[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for the July 18 episode of Jeopardy!]
In the July 18 edition of Jeopardy!, two-day champ and contract compliance analyst Daniel Moore had to go up against communications manager Chelsea Watt and attorney/DJ David Bederman to add to his winnings of $39,800. However, some clue selection strategies and wagers made it an extremely close game for all the contestants involved.
In the first round before break, the first Daily Double was found, which David answered correctly, allowing him to double his score to $2,000. This allowed David to maintain the lead coming out of the break with $5,000 and Daniel closely behind at $4,800. Chelsea had close to half of that with $2,400.
The second Daily Double was found in Double Jeopardy, and unfortunately, Chelsea was unable to answer correctly, taking her already low score of $8,600 down by $2,000. The Daily Double was located in the literature category, which the contestants all decided not to answer, despite the great chance that it would be found there. And although host Ken Jennings praised Chelsea for her low wager, going all-in could have potentially worked out better for her in the long run, had she answered correctly.
However, she answered incorrectly again during the third and final Daily Double, with Chelsea dropping down another $2,000, leaving the final scores before Final Jeopardy at $17,800 for David, $14,200 for Daniel, and $5,800 for Chelsea.
Finally, in the category of Man-Made Objects was the Final Jeopardy clue, which is as follows “Around since 1998, it’s now roughly the length of a football field & travels at about 5 miles per second.” All the contestants answered the International Space Station correctly, but David was able to bet $10,601 to win with $28,401, just one dollar over Daniel’s $28,400.
Although many were quick to point out how easy the Final Jeopardy was or lament their suffering of David’s head tilts when he doesn’t know an answer, others were happy with how competitive tonight’s game was.
Check out some of the Twitter reactions below.
And by one dollar David becomes champion. This was a good show today. Take care all and Ken #Jeopardy pic.twitter.com/MAtuAs88h3
— Cartoon Hero (@toonmanyeah) July 18, 2023
DAMN good betting #jeopardy
— Dashiell Eaves (@DashEaves) July 18, 2023
This dude just won todays jeopardy by $1…sheesh
— big time hater (@Dusse_Verse) July 18, 2023
@Jeopardy how do so many of these super intelligent contestants come on the show and don’t have any idea on how to win the game by making proper daily double bets?
— Shikster 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 (@georgeshik) July 18, 2023
Lot of people winning by one dollar lately… #jeopardy
— Al Duque (@the_mr_alduque) July 18, 2023
Jeopardy seems to have many people that do something that irks me. Tonight it’s this guys “uh” with the hand thing. #jeopardy pic.twitter.com/TuLlm4e94D
— W (@Anodyne1979) July 18, 2023
NOOOO DAVID WON BY $1!! 😭😭 congrats, David but I loved watching you, Daniel! #Jeopardy
— Chinanu Okoli (@ChinanuOkoli12) July 18, 2023
Daniel got beaten by one dollar on Jeopardy today…I’m sad! 😤
— LaToya Wilson, DMD, MPH (@ToyaruthDiva) July 18, 2023
Daniel has guts and wagers the way you should there. David is good at math. #Jeopardy
— Author Jennifer Quail (@jenniferquail) July 18, 2023
Jeopardy!, Weekdays, check local listings