Checkmate! Jamie Ding, from Lawrenceville, New Jersey, returned for his 32nd game of Jeopardy! where he tried to tie James Holzhauer for most consecutive games. But a shocking result left fans gasping at the end. See what Ding wrote to fans.
Ding, a law student and bureaucrat, played against Greg Shahade, from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Katrina Puckett, from Washington Court House, Ohio, on April 27. The reigning champion went into the game with $882,605. Can he further his winnings? Warning: Spoilers for the April 27 episode of Jeopardy! ahead.
The game started off with a Triple Stumper, and then Shahade, a chess player, took the lead, but he quickly lost it as he got two clues wrong. Ding took the lead then.
Shahade found the Daily Double on clue 13. He had $2,200 and made it a True Daily Double. In “Squealers,” the clue read, “You don’t want to be called this, the last name of John Turturro‘s title character in a Coen brothers flick.”
“What’s Fink?” he answered correctly. This gave him the lead with $4,400. Shahade maintained the lead with $4,600 by the first 15 clues.
Despite not being sure of most of his answers, Shahade was in the lead by the end of the round with $5,600. Ding had $4,400. Puckett, a teacher, was in third place with $2,200.
In Double Jeopardy, Shahade found the first DD on clue two. He had $7,600 and wagered all of his money.
The clue in “Playwrights” was “The title object of this Oscar Wilde play is both a fashionable accessory & a mark of femininity.”
“What is Lady Windermere’s Fan?” he answered. The game show contestant took a huge lead with $15,200.
Then, on clue three, he found the last DD. For this one, Shahade played it safe and wagered only $7,000.
In “Historic Alliances,” the clue read, “This 55-nation group launched in 2002 has its headquarters in Addis Ababa.”
He wasn’t sure, but correctly answered with “What is African Union?” This took him to $22,200. Ding had $4,400.
Ding gained a little momentum, moving up to $8,800. But then, Shahade continued his lead with multiple correct responses.
Although Ding ended with $16,000, it wasn’t enough to catch up to Shahade, who had $32,600 by the end of the round. Puckett had $3,000.
“World Languages” was the Final Jeopardy category. The clue was “Of South Africa’s 12 official languages, these 2 are alphabetically first & last.” All three of the contestants had the correct response.
Puckett answered, “What is Affrikaans & Zulu?” She was right and wagered $1,990, making her final total $4,990. Ding had the same response and wrote “TTFN (Tata For Now!)” under that. Ding is guaranteed to come back for the Tournament of Champions and most likely Masters, if it gets renewed.
He wagered $3,010, givin him $19,010. Ding ended his reign with a wave and a smile. He had a final total of $885,605. Shahade wagered $400, giving him a final total of $33,000. He will return on Tuesday for his second game.
Fans reacted to Ding’s loss. “This was such an awesome episode. I gasped multiple times,” a Reddit user said.
“What a nail-biter at the end. If Jamie had prevented it from being a runaway, FJ would have been a lot more tense,” another said.
“I’m not okay 😭💔 Congrats to Jamie for his run. What a humble dude doing really important work. Glad to see him use his stage for good,” another said.
“Nooooooooo! I was not ready for this!! TTFN Jamie. Congrats to Greg,” a fan said.
“It was a great run. See you back for TOC,” a Reddit user commented.
“Wow! What a game,” another wrote.
“Wow. End of an era. What a run. Gonna be super fun to watch him in all the tournaments,” one last fan said.
Jeopardy!, weekdays, check local listings, stream next day on Hulu and Peacock