Mehal Shah was a contestant in Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions, when he had a devastating loss. Ken Jennings, the host of the show, ruled Mehal’s answer to be wrong, costing him the game. Was Ken’s ruling fair? Keep reading to find out.
Mehal Shah’s Jeopardy! Journey
Mehal Shah, a software engineer from Seattle, faced a tough loss on the Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions on January 30. The episode ended in heartbreak for Shah after a controversial ruling on his Final Jeopardy answer cost him a spot in the semifinals. Shah had been trailing behind his competitors, Will Stewart and Ryan Manton, but he was the only contestant to correctly answer the Final Jeopardy clue. “After Camillagate, a fire at Windsor Castle & marriage problems in her family, Queen Elizabeth II dubbed 1992 this.” The correct answer was “Annus Horribilis,” a Latin term meaning “horrible year.”
Mehal wagered $7,001, which would have given him the win, as both Stewart and Manton answered incorrectly. However, Shah misspelled the word “horribili,” writing ” What is an Annus Horriblis” instead. Due to the missing “I,” which changed the pronunciation and removed a syllable, the show’s rules stated that his answer was incorrect. As a result, Shah was eliminated, and Manton advanced to the semifinals.
After the episode aired, Mehal went on the Jeopardy! Reddit forum to share his feelings about the loss. While he was understandably disappointed, he said he agreed with the show’s decision. “The show was 100% right to rule the way they did,” he wrote. Shah even joked about the situation, pointing out that if misspellings were allowed, it could lead to even bigger mistakes, like “Mimi Dolphins” instead of “Miami Dolphins” as an answer to a clue about football.
Ken Jennings Ruled Out Mehal
Mehal Shah explained that Jeopardy! host Ken Jennings approached him after filming and shared how difficult it was to make such rulings. “Delivering rulings like that is the least favorite part of his job,” Shah recalled. He added that while he was initially frustrated, he wasn’t angry at the judges. “My heart broke pretty hard,” he said. Mehal Shah reflected that he had previously benefited from a ruling that helped him in a past game, showing that he understood the importance of fairness.
Despite his loss, Mehal expressed gratitude for the Jeopardy! experience. He called his journey “long and strange,” and said he was thankful for the friendships he made with fellow contestants and the support of the show’s staff. Shah concluded his post by wishing fans good luck with their own Jeopardy! experiences and joked about loaning his buzzer to anyone in Seattle who gets the call to appear on the show.
Even though his time on Jeopardy! ended in defeat, Mehal Shah’s positive attitude and sportsmanship left a lasting impression.