[Warning: This post contains spoilers for the February 14 Jeopardy! Exhibition Game episode]
Jeopardy! Match of Champions ended on Thursday, February 13, after crowning Neilesh Vinjamuri the winner. The Invitational Match is meant to begin proper after ToC, so followers have been left confused when a particular previous episode aired. Additionally they thought that the questions have been manner too simple for the contestants.
Adriana Harmeyer, an archivist from West Lafayette, Indiana, Isaac Hirsch, a buyer help crew lead from Burbank, California, and Drew Basile, a graduate pupil from Birmingham, Michigan, confronted off in an Exhibition Sport. This sport aired on TuneIn Radio on January 24, 2025. Jeopardy! determined to air the episode on TV for all to see as they put together for JIT on Monday, February 17.
Harmeyer and Hirsch went on to compete within the last rounds of ToC with Vinjamuri, not Basile. Host Ken Jennings described this sport as a rehearsal for ToC. The three contestants within the Exhibition Sport sealed a spot within the semi-finals, however didn’t get to play within the quarterfinals.
“It is a likelihood for these three contestants to play 61 clues, so everybody has a stage enjoying area going into the finals,” Jennings stated.
Nevertheless, some followers thought that these questions have been manner too simple for this stage of champions. The primary class that Harmeyer picked was “Appears like an Actor’s Title,” the place they needed to comply with clues corresponding to “Appears like a Batman: 3-letter time period which means to ban + an organization with a duck image.” Harmeyer received it mistaken, however the reply was “Ban Aflack,” just like the actor Ben Affleck.
Different classes within the first spherical included “Newspapers Phrases,” “Give Me Some Backups,” which was naming the lead singer of a band who had backup singers, “Vice Presidents,” and “They Drive on the Left Aspect of the Street.”
On the finish of the primary spherical, Hirsch has a large lead with $8,200, Harmeyer was in second with $3,200, and Basile wasn’t far behind with $3,000.
A number of the simpler classes in Double Jeopardy included “Authors and Their Characters,” “Anagrammed Bible Individuals,” and “Sports activities Films.”
Basile shortly moved into second place when he appropriately guessed his Day by day Double and wagered all of his $3,000 for the creator class. Then within the class “Birds Es,” Basile went all in once more, wagering $8,400. He received the questions appropriate and was shortly within the lead with $16,800.
By the tip of the spherical, he was nonetheless within the lead with $19,200. Hirsch was in second with $15,000 and Harmeyer wasn’t too far behind with $10,800.
In Remaining Jeopardy, the class was revealed to be “Mythology.” Jennings let the contestants make their wagers earlier than he learn off the clue. “On an early ebook of flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator’s maps, a picture of this titan holding the world was used.”
Harmeyer answered with “Who’s Atlas?” Jennings defined that’s the reason a ebook of maps known as an Atlas as a result of that was the proper reply. She wagered $10,000, bringing her complete to $20,800. Hirsch additionally answered Atlas and wagered $6,600, making his last complete $21,600. Basile additionally had the proper reply, wagering all of his cash, making his complete $38,400, and that night time’s winner.
Nevertheless, as this was an exhibition sport, the outcomes didn’t rely.
Followers of Jeopardy! thought that the classes and questions have been too simple for that stage of competitors. A lot of them on Reddit stated that they received the entire solutions proper.
“Oh hey I received each single clue proper in the present day,” a fan stated.
“You already know, as somebody who by no means listened to the TuneIn model of this sport (or learn something about it), I’m certain I’m treading water once I say that’s a slightly “simple” board for a TOC exhibition. I get that it’s primarily for buzzer apply, rhythm, and really feel, however they might’ve thrown in one thing a little more durable, simply to behave as a extra correct warmup,” wrote one other.
One other fan claimed that the contestants have been “having an excessive amount of enjoyable.”
The 2025 Jeopardy! Invitational Match begins on Monday, February 17.
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