Reigning Jeopardy! champion Scott Riccardi is so laser-focused on successful that his competitiveness wound up blocking a fellow contestant from transferring onto the Closing Jeopardy! spherical.
Riccardi entered Monday’s (July 14) recreation as a seven-day champion and was searching for his eighth victory, giving him the longest-running successful streak in Season 41. He confronted off in opposition to Paul Swain, a tutor from Vancouver, Washington, and Amanda Hopkins, an analytics supervisor initially from New Windfall, New Jersey.
As soon as once more, the engineer from Somerville, New Jersey, dominated the episode, answering 30 clues appropriately and only one incorrectly. This gave Riccardi a large runaway with $34,200 and left Hopkins within the crimson in the direction of the tip of the episode. If a participant is on a minus when the sport ends, they’re disqualified from competing within the Closing Jeopardy! spherical.
Hopkins buzzed in to reply the ultimate regular-game clue, which may have allowed her to get out of the crimson and into the ultimate spherical. Sadly for her, Riccardi and Swain buzzed in earlier than her, with Swain in the end answering the clue, preserving Hopkins out of Closing Jeopardy!
“Sadly, Amanda, you had been one clue away from making it again into constructive territory, however we cherished having you. You’ll obtain a third-place prize. Thanks for being right here,” host Ken Jennings informed the unfortunate contestant.
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Followers took to social media to react to the episode, with some arguing that they’d have let Hopkins buzz in in the event that they had been in an analogous place to Riccardi and Swain.
“One factor I’ll by no means do if I had been on the present, reply the final clue over another person within the crimson that wanted it to qualify for last jeopardy when the sport is already a transparent runaway…” wrote one viewer on the Jeopardy! Reddit discussion board.
“I’d’ve held my buzzer and let Amanda get the ultimate clue to get her into FJ,” mentioned one other. “Nobody has to know she didn’t simply beat everybody else, and it modifications nothing with the runaway and 2nd place locked.”
“I’ve been saying this to spouse this for years and we’ve at all times disagreed. She says it’s a recreation, go for the cash. I say allow them to play last jeopardy of their one shot at it,” one other added.
One other wrote, “I noticed that and thought it was a d*** transfer.”
“Yeah, it appears fairly unsportsmanlike to battle for the buzzer when the sport is a runaway and she or he was simply barely within the crimson. I used to be hollering for the final 5 clues and so they by no means let her get one. Sheesh,” mentioned one consumer.
Nonetheless, others disagreed, together with former contestants, who argued that within the warmth of the second, it’s usually arduous to know what the scores are throughout the board.
“I’ve seen a number of contestants say that they don’t actually know what the rating is through the recreation as a result of they’re so centered on the clues,” wrote one fan. “It may be a whirlwind, and distracting your self by being attentive to such issues may value you the sport in different circumstances. So I’m going to offer them the advantage of the doubt.”
Joey Beachum, the 2008 School Championship winner, agreed, writing, “It’s arduous to know what your rating is until you’re in a wagering state of affairs otherwise you really feel prefer it’s coming all the way down to the wire in Double Jeopardy.”
“Good luck. I mainly had tunnel imaginative and prescient. All the pieces I assumed I’d assume through the recreation went away and all I may do was give attention to was the following query,” added Tyler Jarvis, who appeared on the present in April 2024.
He added, “I wasn’t within the state of affairs to “let” an individual within the crimson again into the sport, but when I had been I in all probability wouldn’t have had the presence of thoughts to even take into account that angle. It’s a really completely different recreation in your sofa than it’s on the Alex Trebek stage.”
Second Probability competitor David Maybury famous, “I recognize the spirit behind this, however in my 4 video games, at no time did I’ve the spare brainpower to consider one thing like this.”
Bob Callen, who competed on the present in April 2025, shared, “It’s method too intense on the stage to even take into consideration this. I am keen on the buddies I made on my taping day and wish to assume I’m an honest individual and would need them on the stage in last, however I had a tough sufficient time preserving monitor of my rating, the opposite gamers scores, and what I wanted to do to get or stop a runaway.”
He continued, “I’d like to assume I’d be beneficiant sufficient to go on this state of affairs, however to be sincere, I’d in all probability buzz in if I knew the reply, too. It’s arduous to maintain your head on straight up there, particularly if it’s your first recreation.”
What do you assume? Ought to Riccardi and Swain have let Hopkins buzz in on the final clue? Tell us your ideas under.
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