Caleb Groen is on his way to becoming a Tournament of Champions contestant as he enters his fourth Jeopardy! game. The champion experienced a first during game four. Did he win?
Groen, from Thousand Oaks, California, entered the game with a three-day total of $49,999. On July 7, the law and policy student played against Michael Yates, from Knoxville, Tennessee, and Jessica Davis, from Colonie, New York. Warning: Spoilers for the July 7 episode of Jeopardy! ahead!
The beginning of the round was a tight race as only $400 separated first and second place by the first 15 clues. Yates, a finance professor, took the lead with $3,600 when he found the Daily Double on clue 17.
He made it a true Daily Double in “Everybody’s Got a Plan.” The clue read, “At the 1787 Constitutional Convention, Edmund Jennings Randolph presented the Virginia Plan that this man drafted.”
“Who is (James) Madison?” he answered correctly. This gave him the lead with $7,200.
Yates maintained the lead through the end of the round with $8,400. Groen had $6,000. Davis, a proofreader, was in third place with $1,800.
In Double Jeopardy, Yates found the first DD on clue nine. He had $11,600, compared to Groen’s $7,600, and wagered $5,000.
The clue in “Well, That’s Just Great” was “Described by an American astronomer in 1878, this storm system is 10,000 miles wide & rotates counterclockwise.”
“What is the Red Spot?” he answered at first. Then, he said, “What is the Great Red Spot?” which was correct. He had $16,600.
Yates then found the last DD on the next clue. He wagered $6,000 in “Quotations.” The clue was “This Supreme Court justice in 2023, a year after being sworn in: ‘deeming race irrelevant in law does not make it so in life.’”
“Who is Ginsburg?” he answered incorrectly. The correct response was Ketanji Brown Jackson. This brought him down to $10,600, but he still had the lead.
However, only four clues later, Groen took the lead with $11,600. He ended the round with $17,600. Both Yates and Davis had $10,600.
“The Funnies” was the Final Jeopardy category. The clue read, “The creator of this comic strip said, ‘I show 2 versions of reality, & each makes complete sense to the participant who sees it.’”
All three game show contestants correctly answered with “What is Calvin and Hobbes?” This marked a first for Groen, as he hasn’t gotten the Final Jeopardy answer right until now.
Davis wagered $8,200, giving her $18,800. Yates wagered $3,400, giving him $14,000. Groen’s wager of $3,601, making his total $21,201.
This gave him a four-day total of $71,200 and qualified him for the Tournament of Champions. He will return for his fifth game on Wednesday.
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