Tuesday, December 10, 2024 – Returning champion Bill McKinney, a VP of restaurants and bars from Boston, Massachusetts, faced off against two new challengers: Dan Sand, a law student originally from Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, and Sara Walker, a family and sports medicine physician from Brighton, Michigan. McKinney began the game with a one-day total of $22,000, hoping to extend his Jeopardy! reign.
The first round unfolded with a mixed bag of categories, ranging from historical figures to punny Arthurian knights. While McKinney initially took the lead, Walker kept pace, demonstrating a strong grasp of general knowledge. Sand, unfortunately, struggled to gain traction, lagging behind his competitors. By the first commercial break, McKinney held a slight advantage with $3,400, followed by Walker with $3,200 and Sand trailing with $400. This dynamic, though fluctuating, persisted into Double Jeopardy!, where categories like “Islands,” “Women Writers,” and “How’s Your Legalese?” tested the contestants’ breadth of knowledge.
Double Jeopardy! presented a curious turn of events: Sand, despite his earlier struggles, managed to uncover all three Daily Doubles. However, his luck with the clues themselves proved inconsistent, correctly answering only one out of three. This roller coaster performance prevented any single player from establishing a truly commanding lead. While McKinney entered Final Jeopardy! with the highest score at $12,000, Walker remained a strong contender at $8,800, and even Sand, with $7,800, held a sliver of hope for a comeback.
The Final Jeopardy! category, “Presidential Candidates,” presented a clue about a candidate whose running mates included John Kern, Arthur Sewall, and Adlai Stevenson I. The correct response, “Who was William Jennings Bryan?”, eluded all three contestants. Sand, in a bold (or perhaps reckless) move, wagered a significant portion of his earnings, while Walker played it safer, and McKinney bet just enough to maintain a winning margin in case of a Triple Stumper. The missteps on Final Jeopardy! left McKinney with a final score of $6,000, enough to secure his victory, while Walker landed at $5,602, and Sand, after his substantial wager, finished with a mere dollar. McKinney’s two-day total now stands at $28,000.
Jeopardy! airs weekdays on syndicated television. Check your local listings for showtimes.
