Jeopardy! fans have noticed a pattern of consistent failures in Final Jeopardy over the last few weeks. And the April 26 episode added another game to the list of recent final-round stumpers.
Heading into the last round on April 26, the scores were Johanna Stoberock at $12,000, Liz Everhart at $11,000, and Jesse Matheny at $10,800. The category was Hollywood History, and the clue: “Last name of 3 men who missed the 1927 premiere of The Jazz Singer because a 4th of that name had died hours before.” The answer was, “What is Warner,” but none of the players guessed correctly.
Jesse was in last place at the top of the round. He made a large wager at $8,200, but it was still smaller than his two opponents. Johanna wagered $10,001, and Liz bet $10,000, taking Jesse from last to first place with a difference of just $601. The final scores were Johanna at $1,999, at Liz at $1,000, and Jesse at $2,600 — a very low-score game for Jeopardy! (though not unheard of in recent installments).
This is the second night in a row that no one answered the Final Jeopardy prompt correctly. On April 25, Johanna (tonight’s returning champ) and her two fellow players were stumped by a question tied to Magnum, P.I. and Hawaii Five-0.
“What I thought was THE easiest final Jeopardy question ever they all got it wrong,” one response on Twitter read. As a fan on Reddit said, “I found the final question to be an easy one today, I’m quite surprised no one got it.”
The popular Jeopardy! Reddit page featured a comment about the April 26 episode pointing out the recent Final Jeopardy pattern.
“Contestants are 1 for 9 in FJ this week,” the user wrote. “What’s even odder is eight of those players have finished DJ above $10,000. It wouldn’t surprise me to see the writers lob a ‘States Ending In Hampshire’-type FJ clue tomorrow to get off this schneid. At least we didn’t have a replay of Tuesday, as Jesse wagered just low enough to rally from third.. Great rebound after that $3,000 miss on DD2 early in the round.”
Final Jeopardy stumpers have been a common occurrence in recent weeks. Another pattern they’ve noticed is the lack of winning streaks. For several weeks, most of the Jeopardy! returning champions only stick around for a two-day streak. It prompted one Reddit poster to pose their own question: Has the “2-3 Game Curse” returned?
“It has been almost 6 weeks since Stephen Webb lost and so far none of the players won 4+ games to secure a spot at the 2023 TOC with exception of 3 game champion Ben Chan since his run went on hiatus and will return this May,” the post reads. “With Ken officially end [sic] his stint in the syndication version this season, will Mayim [Bialik] take over as host change the ongoing trend? I think this current trend launched the ‘Champions Wildcard’?”
On the Jeopardy! Reddit board, one fan asked: “I feel like ratings are going to drop if the show keeps up this way. During this month, we have seen: 1. Not yet having a 4+ time champion. 2. too many low single day paydays. 3. a 3-time champion having unable to return for the next tape day. 4. the rest of the Masters tapings being delayed again. And… 4. Ken Jennings leaving syndicated hosting for the season after the month.” This prompted a conversation about Jeopardy! streaks in general.
“I like the superchamps too but a lot of viewers don’t like the long runs and like it better when there’s more turnover of champs,” one user replied. “And more regular players, not always superstars.”
“I like a healthy balance. At a certain point, the super-champions become boring especially when every game is just them making it a runaway halfway through Double Jeopardy,” said another. “Some of them can make it interesting despite that, like Amy [Schneider], who won me over because she’s just an awesome person overall and I enjoy her personality, but most of the time it just gets boring. It takes the fun out of watching when you already know who’s going to win halfway through the episode.”
What do you think of the recent string of Final Jeopardy blunders, low wins, and lack of winning streaks? While large dollar sums are exciting, it can be a thrill of its own when a player wins by the skin of their teeth, as Jesse did tonight when his wrong answer but smart wager helped him clinch the win.
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