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Another champion has come and gone on Jeopardy! On Friday’s (July 19) episode, Jay Fisher — who made a name for himself by ousting Isaac Hirsch on Tuesday’s (July 16) game and notching two additional victories — was roundly defeated by newcomer Neilesh Vinjamuri and has revealed exactly why he felt short of qualification for the Tournament of Champions.
Fisher wrote on Reddit, “I’m not looking forward to watching this game! The week before was stressful at work so I was working on little sleep and by this taping I was tired. I knew DD3 but didn’t take a second to figure out they wanted the harbor not the fort. Congrats to Neilesh, he crushed double jeopardy. May he have a long run.”
The third Daily Double of the episode was indeed decisive for Fisher, who faced off against both Vinjamuri, a software engineer, and Dave Gutierrez, a logistics director.
The first round saw Vinjamuri finishing the round underwater with $-800 due to an incorrect Daily Double, while Gutierrez led the pack with $3,400, and Fisher was right on his tail with $2,600.
Double Jeopardy is where things got really interesting, though. Vinjamuri picked up speed in a big way and got the second Daily Double correct. His streak and score became high enough to be a runaway after Fisher got the third Daily Double incorrect, which meant a certain end to Fisher’s winning streak as, going into Final Jeopardy, Vinjamuri had $13,000 to Fisher’s $5,000 and Gutierrez’s $5,400.
Somewhat ironically, Fisher was the only one who got Final Jeopardy correct (he knew that Sacagawea was the woman with the most statues devoted to her in the category “19th Century Women”). However, it was too late.
In his online post, Fisher explained why he has “no regrets” about the way he played the game, writing, “life is full of what ifs, what if I had paused and gotten the DD. Could I have come back in two weeks and eked out a fifth victory for the ToC? That would have been so much fun, but I fear with my mediocre buzzer success rate I would have been cannon fodder. what if the finals had come in a different order. Then I’d be a lot richer! but the big what if is what if Isaac had been feeling well and wagered properly. Then I’d just be a second place finisher. I have no regrets and I am very proud of how I played and how I did. The contestants and the staff were all very nice and fun to be around. It was a dream come true to just be on the show, let alone win three games. I first made it through qualifying in 2011 but was not called. If you are trying to get on Jeopardy, keep at it, even if it takes decades like it did for me. it was such a great experience. good luck to Isaac in the ToC.”
Jeopardy!, weeknights, check local listings