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[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for the Tuesday, November 19 episode of Jeopardy!]
Jeopardy! fans were in for a memorable matchup on Tuesday, November 19, as a contestant battling Stage IV cancer bravely shared his diagnosis. However, he and the reigning champ fell short, and a new winner emerged despite what many fans called an utterly baffling bet.
Paul Clauson, a tax analyst (on unpaid leave) from Madison Heights, Michigan, was the one to beat. He entered with a two-day total of $36,300 after back-to-back runaways. He faced Chris Burge, a high school teacher from Farmers Branch, Texas, and Mikey McCullough, a librarian from Baltimore, Maryland.
During the interviews, Ken Jennings asked Burge, “I understand you’re facing a health challenge right now that you wanted to talk about.” The player replied, “Yeah, I’ve been fighting Stage IV colon cancer since May.” Jennings responded, “Oh wow.”
“Young adult diagnoses have increased a lot in recent years,” he continued. “Definitely encourage people not to ignore any kind of symptoms. Definitely push to get tested, especially if you have any family history of it.”
“That’s a great word to get out there,” Jennings concluded. “Thank you so much, Chris.”
In the Jeopardy! round and after the moving moment, Clauson hit a speed bump missing the first Daily Double. Burge led when the smoke cleared with $6,400, McCullough had $4,200, and the champ had $2,600.
In Double Jeopardy!, Clauson’s streak looked unsteady as he trailed for much of the clues. Eventually, McCullough found the second Daily Double having mounted a wide lead while Clauson chipped away at the clue board to double digits. However, with a chance to put the game away, she only bet $2,000, getting it correct, she had an even wider lead but not the runaway. Clauson could have used the last Daily Double, but didn’t find it; Burge did so with very few clues left and missed it dropping out of contention.
This left the game between Clauson and McCullough going into Final Jeopardy, with him at $11,000, her at $20,200, and Burge at $1,600
The “Sports & The City” clue was, “At 800 West Main & 700 Central in this city are a company & a venue both involved in Triple Crowns.”
Only Burge was correct in writing “Louisville” from a distant third. Clauson dropped to $0 with an incorrect response, ending his two-day run, and McCullough only dropped $2,000 to become the new champ with $18,200.
Fans flooded the Reddit thread for the episode, praising Burge for his incredible anecdote and reacting to the new champ.
Jeopardy!, Weekdays, check local listings