As the Jeopardy! season quickly wraps up, the games don’t stop bringing the thrills. Fans went wild over an unbelievably high-scoring game.
Dean Zach, from Pearland, Texas, returned for his second game on July 23. He entered with a one-day total of $36,000. On Thursday, the creative writing graduate student played against Matthew Riggle, from Madison, Alabama, and Jacqueline Ziegler, from New York, New York. Warning: Spoilers for the July 23 episode of Jeopardy! ahead!
Riggle, a community college math instructor, found the Daily Double on clue two. He had $800, but wagered the allotted $1,000.
The clue in “Elect Me As President” read, “An 1840 ‘ viral campaign song mentioned 2 things: this battle & this running mate too.” “What is Tippecanoe & Tyler too?” he answered correctly. He had the lead with $1,800.
Ripple kept a narrow lead after the first 15 clues with $4,200. Zach and Ziegler, a set designer, were both tied with $3,200. At the end of the round, Riggle had $6,400. Ziegler moved to second place with $5,600. Zach had $3,200.
In Double Jeopardy, Zach found the first DD on clue four. He had $6,000 and wagered all of his money. The clue in “On The Movie Poster” was, “1986: 2 dog tags in place of 2 ‘O’s in a title.”
“What is Platoon?” he answered correctly. That gave him $12,000 and the lead.
Zach then found the last DD on clue five. He went all-in again in “Earth Science.” The clue read, “The technical definition of this stuff is any layer of ground that’s been at or below 32 degrees Fahrenheit for 2 or more years.”
“What is permafrost?” he answered correctly. That gave him even more of a lead with $24,000. Riggle had $7,400.
Riggle then went on to run the category “Consecutive Letter Word Pairs,” giving him $15,400. By clue 26, Zach had not answered any other clues. Riggle took the lead with $24,200.
He kept that total until the end of the round. Zach had $24,000. Ziegler had an impressive third-place total of $12,800.
The category for Final Jeopardy was “Authors.” The clue read, “She sometimes signed letters ‘Charles Thunder.’”
Only one of the game show contestants had the correct response. Zeigler answered, “Who is George Eliot?” She was wrong and wagered all of her money, leaving her with $0.
Zach also responded with George Eliot. He wagered $1,601, giving him $22,399. Riggle had the correct response of “Who is Charlotte Bronte?” He wagered $23,801, making his total $48,001.
“Holy moly,” host Ken Jennings said. Riggle will return on July 24 for the final game of the season.
Fans reacted to the game on Reddit. “Riggle had the last giggle! Dean the Machine was machining again till the end! Jac in green did better than I would against 2 machines,” one fan commented.
“Dean the Machine unfortunately couldn’t do a 2nd win but his 12k DD on permafrost…makes him permaLOVED by us all,” another said.
“What an unbelievable game and week so far!” a third added.
“What a game,” a fan said.
“Wow. Great match,” one last fan commented.
Jeopardy!, weekdays, check local listings, stream next day on Peacock and Hulu
