JEOPARDY! scored a new champion on Wednesday's episode but in a way that left viewers dumbfounded.
All three contestants overbet on a triple stumper Final Jeopardy, leaving Devin Lohman a 1-day winner with less money than the 2nd place consolation prize.
1-day champ Deb Bilodeau faced Ben Spilsbury, a sales engineer from Long Island City, New York, and Devin, an architectural designer and Master's student from Peachtree City, Georgia.
Deb, a winemaker from Oakland, California had some Jeopardy! fans rooting for them after their memorable $16,000 debut in the last episode.
The grape-crusher with an outpouring of personality responded to a Virgo clue with a hilariously unsavory facial expression.
In their second outing, Deb was leading after the first round with $7,600, but Devin found both Daily Doubles in Double Jeopardy and cashed in on them.
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He quickly moved from a distant second to the lead, slightly edging out Deb going into Final Jeopardy.
"What a duel between Deb and Devin," Ken Jennings, 48, remarked before the last commercial break.
Going into Final Jeopardy: Devin had $20,600, Deb just behind at $18,800, and Ben $4,400.
Final Jeopardy under the category "Lives of The Poets" read: "At a seminary that classified students’ degree of faith, Emily Dickinson was 'without' this, which she compares to a bird in a poem."
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SCORES & JAWS ALL DROP
First, Ken turned to Ben in third place who said he “wrote something at the last minute.”
Ben wrote “What is: Faith” and revealed he wagered $4399, dropping to $1.
Next, Ken turned to Deb who incorrectly wrote "What is: Doubt" and, in a jarring sight, had wagered their entire $18,800, dropping to $0.
"Oh, without a doubt you wagered all of it,” Ken joked but sounded shocked himself.
Finally, Ken turned to Devin who incorrectly wrote “What is: God."
Ken explained: “No the seminary at Mount Holyoke said that Emily [Dickenson] was without ‘Hope.’ ‘Hope is the thing with feathers,’ she wrote.”
Devin also wagered nearly his entire earnings: “Woah! A big wager of $19400," Ken said.
"Leaving you with $1200, but today that’s enough!”
Devin was declared the new champion with a 1-day amount of $1200.
Ben’s second-place consolation prize was $2000, and Deb was given a third-place consolation prize of $1000.
As the players congratulated each other and their final earnings showed, Devin had less money than Ben's $2000 despite winning.
'FIRST TIME I'VE SEEN THAT!'
Viewers went absolutely haywire on social media over the triple stumper and ensuing chump change scores.
One fan wrote under a YouTube clip: "Wow, small win on Jeopardy! today. Lowest score. Unbelievable."
Another wrote: "First time I saw that in a long freaking time."
"Second place made more than the winner," wrote a third person as a fourth replied: "LOL. That’s right!"
A fifth fan on Reddit wrote: "That was some poor Final Jeopardy wagering," as another said: "Some risky wagers that didn't quite pan out."
A sixth wrote: "Deb could've wagered at most 9,999 and Devin could have gone significantly shorter"
Another agreed that even though it made for a memorable moment, the players all overbet, especially Deb from second place.
"I feel like both Deb and Ben bet sub-optimally. Deb should have bet just enough to get $1 over Devin's score and Ben should have just bet $0 since it likely wouldn't have changed anything anyways. Had either of them done that, Devin wouldn't have won."
On Twitter, someone wrote: “Man, what was the lowest amount someone won with? $1,200 is the lowest I’ve seen in a while.”
“Ok how did NO ONE get final jeopardy, I had to read that poem multiple times throughout grade school and high school. it’s like one of her most famous poems!!!!
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This is the second odd technicality of the week as on Monday, the game show presented three new contestants and no returning champion.
Three-day champ Ben Chan abruptly exited after having contracted COVID-19. He will be returning on May 15’s episode to go for win four at that time.
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