One reason Jeopardy! has consistently remained exciting to me for over a decade is the fact you never know what is going to happen when the show hits the TV schedule. Great contestants like James Holzhauer go on lengthy streaks. Sometimes competitors can come from behind and pull a big move in final Jeopardy! Sometimes champs win with just $1 to their names, amongst other unforgettable moments. It’s exciting, but I never saw my hometown being the clue catalyst that ended Jamie Ding’s streak.
Jamie Ding was already one of the biggest Jeopardy! winners of all time when new episodes began airing this week. He was 31 games into his winning streak, and some had already wondered if he might go much further and break Ken Jennings’ record, when contestant Greg Shahade came in, guns blazing. The newcomer landed some doozies during his runaway episode. I found the whole thing entrancing. He absolutely destroyed the reigning Jeopardy! champion from start to finish, but my favorite moment was a reference to the state of Indiana.
Shahade crushing one question about my hometown kind of summed up why he absolutely needed to win. His knowledge about geography was pretty impressive. I grew up in Southern Indiana, Evansville to be specific. I now live two hours away in Missouri and almost no one I encounter has ever heard of the city I grew up in. Most people tend to know Indianapolis and usually Fort Wayne, then would guess places like South Bend (shoutout Notre Dame) or Gary as the third largest. Evansville is significantly larger than both. But Greg Shahade is from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a whopping 12-hour drive away, and he guessed the correct city.
Article continues belowWe were only four minutes into the episode when this question happened, and at that point Jamie Ding was still sitting fairly comfortably. He was at $3,000 while Katrina and Greg before the question both had $1,200 at that point. It’s worth mentioning the category was “Where There’s A Ville” so that did give a bit of a hint, but the newcomer was quickest to the buzzer.
Directly after this, and what I feel like was a turning point, was when Greg landed on the Daily Double, prompting Ken Jennings to note, “Evansville hooked you up, possibly!” Greg went for the true Daily Double, nabbing the answer “Barton Fink” and pushing him significantly higher than his two competitors. He’d hold the lead through the rest of the game.
Greg ended up with a lot of luck (and skill) in the game, ultimately getting the third daily double a short time after. This second round bonus then put his total over 22,0000, and his streak continued from there.
CinemaBlend’s own Heidi Venable watched the episode live, and was absolutely gutted by the way Jamie Ding handled final Jeopardy when it became clear he couldn’t beat Greg. It was an emotional moment for fans who had been tuning in daily, but I honestly found it comforting that it was such a whupping. Now on his own (still short) streak, there is no doubt Greg Shahade was supposed to win that game, and I’m still a little startled it really all kicked up a notch with a little clue about my hometown, and the university my own mother attended many years ago. It's one of the reasons the show remains the GOAT of game shows.
