Jeopardy! has another winner, and it’s because of a bold wager on a Daily Double after “safe” bets all week. Fans reacted to the wager, which caused the contestant to win the game.
Andrew Hayes, from Tupelo, Mississippi, returned for his third game on Friday, April 11, against Michael DiSciullo, from Austin, Texas, and Stephanie Rozman, from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Hayes had a two-day total of $45,401 and tried to increase that during his third game.
By the first commercial break, all three game show contestants were off to a good start. Only DiSciullo had answered one question wrong out of 15. The others had answered all of them right, including the Daily Double. In the first round, only three questions were answered incorrectly, and they were all triple stumpers.
The DD was found closer to the end of the round by Hayes, a law student. The clue read, “If your talents take a while to develop, you may be one of these; gentian is one in the garden.” He answered, “What is a late bloomer?” which was correct. For this one, he played it safe and only wagered $1,200, giving him a slight lead.
At the end of the first round, Hayes had $6,000. DiSciullo, a real estate agent, was not far behind with $5,000. Rozman, a publications manager and editor, trailed with $4,600.
In Double Jeopardy, Hayes fell behind a bit but pulled out the win when he found the last DD of the game. Throughout the whole round, only five questions were answered incorrectly, making it one of the best Jeopardy! rounds in history. Four of them were triple stumpers.
Rozman found the first DD of the round. The clue read, “This daughter was the firstborn of Henry VIII’s legitimate children.” “Who is Queen Mary?” she answered, adding $1,500 to her total.
The second DD was found 11 clues later, with still half of the round to go. Hayes found this one, and it changed his whole game. He bravely made it a true Daily Double and bet his whole bank of $7,500. The clue read, “Lenin was not a fan of the ‘bourgeois’ this group, a Russian word for the egghead segment of society.” He answered, “What is the intelligentsia?“
“You didn’t sound sure, but that is correct,” host Ken Jennings said. This brought Hayes’ total up to $15,000. After that, he answered eight more questions correctly and gave himself a huge lead over his other two competitors.
He ended the round with $21,600. DiSciullo had $13,400. Rozman was not that far behind with $12,900. After that notable win heading into Final Jeopardy, Hayes had to be careful with his wager.
For Final Jeopardy, the category was “Siblings.” The clue read, “They used some of their $65 million settlement to stockpile bitcoin & in 2014 they founded their own cryptocurrency exchange.” All three contestants were correct and answered, “Who are the Winklevoss twins?” Rozman wagered $12,300, ending with $25,200. DiSciullo wagered $13,397 to give him a final total of $26,797. It all came down to Hayes’ wager, which only put him $4 ahead of DiSciullo. He wagered $5,201, giving him a final total of $26,801.
This made Hayes a three-day winner with a total of $72,202. He will be back on Monday, April 14, to face off against two new contestants.
Reddit users reacted to the day’s game.
