[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for the Thursday, February 27 episode of Jeopardy!]
A Jeopardy! participant hopes that the viewers at dwelling and within the studio might really feel the magic that she felt whereas enjoying. After the final quarterfinals of the Jeopardy! Invitational Match, Juveria Zaheer, Season 40 Second Likelihood and Champions Wildcard winner and 2024 Match of Champions quarterfinalist, spoke out about her time within the event.
Zaheer, from Whitby, Ontario, Canada, performed towards Seth Wilson, 12-game Jeopardy! winner, and Jackson Jones, 2019 Teen Match semifinalist and 2023 Excessive Faculty Reunion Match runner-up.
The sport began off fairly equally as all three sport present contestants appropriately answered questions. Nonetheless, Zaheer fell to final place when she wager all of it on the primary Day by day Double. The group went wild when the psychiatrist discovered it, cheering and hollering of their seats. “The construction known as this, after the outdated metropolis of Tokyo, was constructed; over centuries it expanded enormously, then contracted,” the clue learn.
Zaheer was shut when she responded with, “What’s Edo?” Nonetheless, host Ken Jennings stated that they had been on the lookout for the construction, Edo Fortress. She wager $1,500, shedding all of her cash. Zaheer then guessed unsuitable on an “X Marks the Model” query, placing her within the unfavourable.
In the course of the introductions, Jennings requested Wilson if he has stayed near his all-star workforce since his time on Jeopardy! All-Stars. “I’ve. My pricey buddy and All-Stars teammate, Ben Ingram, obtained married a few years in the past, and he invited me to return carry out the ceremony, so I get to see him and be a part of a particular second for him. It was actually great,” Wilson, an editor and adjunct professor, shared.
“That’s unbelievable!” Jennings stated. “He needed his Jeopardy! profession to be entrance and heart on the wedding ceremony, it doesn’t matter what his accomplice thought.”
This information comes simply days after JIT contestant Roger Craig introduced that he obtained married to a different Jeopardy! participant, Julia Collins.
By the top of the primary spherical, Zaheer was in final place, regardless of answering the final handful of questions appropriately, with $2,600. Wilson, from Oak Park, Illinois, was in second with $4,200. Jones, a conflicts analyst assistant, led with $5,200.
Zaheer’s luck circled in Double Jeopardy! when Wilson discovered the primary Day by day Double. He was incorrect and had made it a real Day by day Double, bringing him right down to $0. Quite a lot of the questions went unanswered by all three contestants in that spherical. Jennings even famous, “These are powerful.”
Nonetheless, the questions Zaheer answered, she obtained proper, and he or she finally caught as much as Jones, from Louisville, Kentucky. She handed Jones when she wager all of it on her second Day by day Double. “Head to the top of the alphabet for this bone that types an outer wall of the attention socket,” the clue learn.
“What’s the zygomatic bone?” she answered appropriately, bringing her whole to $13,200.
It was a battle for first place as all three contestants breezed by means of the remainder of the second spherical. Nonetheless, Zaheer nonetheless stayed on high. She ended Double Jeopardy! with $16,000. In the meantime, Jones was in second with $10,800, and Wilson had $6,400 moving into to Remaining Jeopardy!.
The Remaining Jeopardy! clue learn: “Born in Amersfoort in 1872, he helped discovered an artwork motion famous for the usage of straight strains & major colours.”
Wilson answered appropriately with “Who’s Mondrian?” He wagered $6,399, bringing his ultimate whole to $12,799. Jones was additionally appropriate and wagered $5,201, making his whole $16,001. Zaheer additionally answered with Mondrian and wagered $5,601. Her ultimate whole was $21,601, making her the evening’s winner.
The group went wild as Zaheer put her head down on the rostrum. The sport present led to thunderous applause and cheers.
“What an enthusiastic viewers! Did Juveria journey with a big entourage? Or only a LOT of actually large Juveria followers?” a Reddit consumer requested.
After the event, Zaheer shared her ideas on the platform.
“An enormous shout out to my buddies who got here to observe, a lot of whom I’ve met by means of J! – having the ability to look out into the viewers and see folks you’re keen on makes all of the distinction on the planet,” she wrote.
“Again to event play for a second – I do know that it’s divisive, and all of us love common Virginia Jeopardy, however I’ve been so grateful to really feel like part of one thing a lot larger than me. Tournaments have a starting, center, and finish; it’s very a lot a let’s do that collectively and placed on a present summer time camp vibe. And I feel (I hope!) it lets the viewers at dwelling fall in love with the Drew Goinses and Will Yanceys and Jilana Cotters and Rowan Wards, whereas additionally attending to see outdated favourites and legends,” she continued.
“As a participant, I nonetheless can’t imagine that I obtained to have a bit of bit extra magic each single time, and I hope that the viewers can really feel a bit of little bit of that magic too,” Zaheer concluded.
The primary semifinals will happen on Friday, February 28. The 9 winners will compete, after which solely three will transfer on to the finals earlier than the champion is topped after two wins.
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