[Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for the February 13 episode of Jeopardy!]
Within the fifth sport of the 2025 Jeopardy! Match of Champions, Adriana Harmeyer from West Lafayette, Indiana, Isaac Hirsch from Burbank, California, and Neilesh Vinjamuri from Lionville, Pennsylvania, all competed for one more win, and there was one mistake that value Harmeyer, an archivist, the sport. Vinjamuri had two wins whereas Hirsch and Harmeyer had each received one sport.
On the finish of the primary spherical, Vinjamuri was within the lead with $6,600, Hirsch had $3,400, and Harmeyer was in final place with $2,000. Nevertheless, Harmeyer rapidly gained the lead as she accurately answered one of many Every day Doubles in Double Jeopardy!, bringing her complete to $8,000. Vinjamuri rapidly caught as much as her all through the spherical. He pulled forward after she mispronounced a phrase, inflicting her to lose the sport.
Vinjamuri picked the class “Pop Tradition Jeopardy” for $1,600. The clue was an image of an actress as host Ken Jennings learn the query: “She was the mom on How I Met Your Mom and the daughter of Carmine Falcone on the HBO present, The Penguin.”
Harmeyer buzzed in with “Who’s Miloti?”
“Cristin Milioti is appropriate, sure,” Jennings informed her, saying it the identical approach that she did. This introduced Harmeyer’s complete as much as $13,600.
The spherical went on, and in the midst of Hirsch, a buyer help crew lead, selecting a clue, Jennings stopped the sport and stated he was made conscious of a change in scoring.
“Adriana, within the clue about Cristin Milioti, you overlooked that ‘E’ syllable, so sadly, we now have to remove $3,200 out of your rating,” Jennings stated.
Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Photographs for Critics Selection Affiliation
This introduced her right down to $10,400, giving Vinjamuri the lead with $11, 200. The change in scoring induced her to lose the complete sport. Her complete earlier than Ultimate Jeopardy! was $10,000. Hirsch was in third with $7,800, and Vinjamuri led with $13,600. If the sport present had not taken $3,200 away from Harmeyer, they might have been tied going into the ultimate spherical.
The class for Ultimate Jeopardy! was “Greek Fantasy.” The clue learn, “Panoptes, that means all-seeing, was the byname of this legendary determine, slain by Hermes whereas standing guard over Io.”
Hirsch went first, answering accurately with “Who’s Argus?” He wagered $7,700, bringing his complete to $15,500, bringing him into the lead, however that didn’t final for lengthy. Harmeyer additionally wrote down Argus, including $6,000 to her complete. She ended the sport with $16,400. Vinjamuri, too, answered accurately and wagered $7,201. The software program engineer received the sport with $20,801.
Vinjamuri is the 2025 Match of Champions winner, with three video games received. He took dwelling $250,000 and can compete in Jeopardy! Masters. Harmeyer and Hirsch every acquired $75,000.
Reddit customers reacted to Vinjamuri successful and the scoring change.
“That retroactive scoring change proved HUGE. That’s all I’ll publish on that for now,” one fan stated.
“Wasn’t anticipating that ending. Congrats to Neilesh on the win,” stated one other.
“That’s the primary time i can keep in mind seeing them do a scoring change in the midst of the sport as an alternative of ready for a cease; i’m glad they did, as a result of it will’ve put a little bit of a damper on the ending in the event that they’d waited till getting back from the FJ break to announce it, particularly with the place the scores would’ve been,” a 3rd wrote.
The Jeopardy! Invitational Match will start on Monday, February 17.
Jeopardy!, Weekdays, Examine Native Listings