In a suspenseful episode of Jeopardy!, three contestants brought their knowledge and strategic skills to the forefront. Will Stewart, a political organizer from Nashville, Tennessee, went up against Jonah Lipton, a writer from Los Angeles, California, and Allison Gross, a data scientist and three-day champion from Cleveland, Ohio. With a total winnings of $44,598, Allison was certainly a force to be reckoned with.
The game began with an interesting mix of categories, including “O” Say, Can You See?, Prepositional Book Titles, Birdplay, Sports Venues, and Pranks. Jonah took an early lead in the first round, skillfully wagering $3,000 on a Daily Double question in the category Prepositional Book Titles. He identified Virginia Woolf’s novel, ‘To the Lighthouse,’ and its use of stream-of-consciousness narrative style.
At the first break, the scores reflected a competitive dynamic: Allison at $1,200, Jonah at $9,000, and Will close behind with $4,000. As the game progressed into Double Jeopardy!, new categories such as The Southern Hemisphere, Business Names, Singers on Film, World History, Art & Artists, and Talking Hot & Cold were unveiled.
Allison made a bold move during Double Jeopardy! by doubling her wager to $9,600 on a Daily Double question in the category Talking Hot & Cold. She correctly identified the military policy of scorched earth. However, her luck took a turn when she missed the answer to another Daily Double question in the same round, resulting in a drop to third place.
The Final Jeopardy! category, 20th Century Books, presented a challenging clue: “A review said this 1966 book about real events ‘will cause a good deal of myopic squabbling about just what a novel is.‘” Both Will and Jonah provided the correct response, identifying the book as “What is In Cold Blood?” Will’s strategic wager of $9,601 secured his victory, finishing with a total score of $25,601, just barely surpassing Jonah’s final score of $25,600. Allison, unfortunately, finished in third place with a score of $0.
Some trivia questions that stumped the contestants included the identification of the cosmetics brand Mary Kay, founded in the early 1960s and known for its pink Cadillacs, and the title of a 1985 film featuring Madonna as a free-spirited character, “Desperately Seeking Susan.”
Overall, the episode showcased the contestants’ intellectual prowess and quick thinking, with Will Stewart emerging as the well-deserved winner.
