Jeopardy! fan favorite Drew Goins chalked up another runaway victory on Monday’s (January 20) Champions Wildcard semifinal, but many viewers are fuming because they couldn’t watch the episode due to Donald Trump‘s inauguration.
The episode saw Goins returning to the Alex Trebek Stage alongside fellow semifinalists Joey DeSena and Jen Feldman. Fans had been highly anticipating the match-up due to Goins’ impressive run through the Second Chance tournament and the Champions Wildcard quarterfinals.
However, many networks across the United States chose not to air the episode, instead providing coverage of President Trump’s inauguration in Washington, D.C. This led to frustration among Jeopardy! fans, as they weren’t previously warned that the episode would be preempted.
“I literally spent all day avoiding news about the inauguration only for it to f*** my nightly routine and the one thing I was looking forward to,” wrote on user on the Jeopardy! Reddit forum.
“It got preempted halfway through on the NBC channel we watch on,” said another.
“I was so looking forward to this all day. I audibly shouted when I saw what I saw instead of these lovely contestants,” another added.
One X user wrote, “What a lousy Monday 7PM #jeopardy peeps. The brain exercise is preempted.”
“I was already bummed about today for obvious reasons but now it feels personal,” added another.
“Talking heads keeping us from having 30 minutes of freedom from political craziness,” another said.
As with previous games, Goins got off to a quick start, answering an impressive 14 clues in the opening round to give him a solid lead of $7,200 over Feldman’s $2,400 and DeSena’s $800.
Goins continued to rack up correct responses in Double Jeopardy, though Feldman found the first Daily Double for a sizable $5,000. However, Goins landed on the second Daily Double, making an educated guess and snagging $4,000 for a total of $26,800, just enough for a runaway heading into Final Jeopardy.
Host Ken Jennings then read out the final clue, “A U.S. Navy website says its journey from New London to Norway in 1957 opened up Arctic waters previously ruled by the Soviets.”
Only DeSena answered correctly with the USS Nautilus, but it didn’t matter, as Goins (who wagered $0) had already secured his spot in the Champions Wildcard finals, where he’ll now be hoping to win and land a spot in the Tournament of Champions.
Did you get to see Monday’s episode of Jeopardy? What did you think of Goins’ game? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
Jeopardy!, Weekdays, Check Local Listings
