[Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for the Wednesday, February 25, episode of Jeopardy!]
James Hirsh returned for his second Jeopardy! game after beating two-day champion, Trey Hart, but that is not what fans were focusing on. They talked about the second-place contestant, who impressed them, but lost on a wager.
Hirsh, from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, whose one-day total was $31,418, played his second game against Kevin Kodama, from Seattle, Washington, and Lauren Vincent, from Boston, Massachusetts, on February 25.
Vincent, a grant writer, found the Daily Double on clue three. She had $800, but wagered up to the allotted $1,000. In “Disney Movies By Song Lyrics,” the clue was: “‘You think you own whatever land you land on, the earth is just a dead thing you can claim.'”
She correctly answered with “What is Pocahontas?” which gave her the lead of $1,800. However, Vincent did not maintain the lead.
By the first commercial break, Hirsh, a lawyer, had the lead with $5,200. Vincent was in third place.
Hirsh ended the round with $5,600. Kodama, a software engineer, was close with $5,000. Vincent was in third place with $2,400.
In Double Jeopardy, Kodama ran the category “Depressing Poetry,” giving him a huge lead of $12,600. A few clues later, Hirsh tried to take back his lead by finding the first DD on clue eight.
He had $7,200 and wagered all of his money. “Wow!” host Ken Jennings said.
In “Alliterative People,” the clue read, “In 1994 he launched a cable channel to compete with American Movie Classics.” “Who is Ted Turner?” he answered correctly, giving him the lead with $14,400.
However, Kodama proved that he was a contender after he snatched back the lead. He found the last DD on clue 19. He had $19,400 and wagered $15,200. In “Peace,” the clue read, “2 agreements that were frameworks for peace in the Middle East are aka these, after where they were negotiated in 1978.”
“What are the Oslo Accords?” he answered incorrectly. The correct response was the Camp David Accords, so he dropped down to $4,200.
Hirsh ended with $20,400. Kodama was in second place with $5,000. Vincent had $5,000.
The category for Final Jeopardy was “World Landmarks.” The clue was: “Henry James said its ‘immemorial gray pillars may serve to remind you of the enormous background of time.'” None of the game show contestants correctly guess Stonehenge.
Vincent’s response was “What is the Parthenon?” She wagered $4,000 and ended with $0. Kodama’s answer was “What is the Lincoln Memorial?” He wagered all of his money, giving him $0. Hirsh also said the Parthenon. He wagered $5,400, giving him a total of $15,000.
Hirsh had a two-day total of $47,418. He will try to increase that during his third game on February 26.
Despite losing the game due to a bad Daily Double wager, Kodama had the most correct responses with 22 and only two incorrect responses. Hirsh got 21 right.
This led Reddit users to call for him to be a part of a tournament in the future. “Kevin for Second Chance for sure, lost too much on what was a pretty easy DD3,” one said.
“KEVIN FOR SECOND CHANCE,” fan wrote.
“I think that’s a pretty foregone conclusion,” a Reddit user replied.
“I would be shocked if Kevin wasn’t a contestant in second chance later this year,” a fan said.
“Tough break on missing that big daily double, Kevin!” another commented.
Jeopardy!, weekdays, check local listings, stream next day on Hulu and Peacock
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