The stakes on Jeopardy! remain higher than usual as ongoing champion Adriana Harmeyer works to continue her winning streak, but she ran into a close call upon facing the latest competitors Kaitlin Tarr, an aspiring ceramicist from Dever, and Susan Ayoob, a content strategist from San Francisco.
Beginning the June 14 game, Adriana entered as a 12-day champion with $278,500 in winnings, with her streak on the line, it was imperative to play well against the newest competitors, but it was a close call. While Adriana held the lead following the first Jeopardy round, it was Kaitlin who stole it from her by the end of Double Jeopardy!
At the end of that second round, Kaitlin had collected $12,800 against Adriana’s $12,400, and Susan’s $10,200. Ultimately, her lead was helped when she found the third Daily Double and added $2,000 to her score, but even with a $400 lead, Kaitlin was no match for Adriana in Final Jeopardy.
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The category was “1960s America” with the clue reading “Helping draft an executive order in 1961, Hobart Taylor Jr. almost used the word ‘positive,’ but instead chose this alliterative phrase.” The correct response was “What is affirmative action?”
Only Adriana provided the correct response, bumping up her final score for the match to $20,500, as she became a 13-day champion with an overall score of $299,000. Adriana’s wager of $8,100 definitely tipped her over the edge, but a wrong response and small wager put Kaitlin in a losing position that could have been much different had she not lost her second Daily Double round.
So, while fans were surely rooting for the ongoing champ, it was a definite loss for Kaitlin who was given a taste of what could be if she’d played a step or two differently. Some fans reacted to the gameplay on Reddit, noting Adriana’s fierceness when it comes to the Final Jeopardy round.
“Adriana is a monster at FJ,” one fan wrote. Another viewer echoed these sentiments as they wrote, “Adriana’s gonna be tough to beat so long as she continues to get FJ correct.”
What did you think of the game’s outcome? Sound off in the comments section, below, and stay tuned for next week’s gameplay to see how ongoing champ Adriana fares.
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