'Jeopardy! Masters': Ben Chan becomes five-game champion as he crushes NBC show after return from illness
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: This week's ‘Jeopardy!’ keeps getting bizarre and interesting. With the return of a straight three-game winner, things just got exciting! Ben Chan dethroned a consecutive eight-day winner, Hannah Wilson, on Monday, May 15, episode. Subsequently, he has done it again, winning his fifth game in a row and taking up $157,000 on Tuesday, May 16, episode. He played alongside Lydia-Claire Kerrigan and Tom Winiarski.
Ben, who left the show abruptly in April after a mild case of Covid-19, returned to the show on Monday this week. He already won his first three games in April and made his comeback on May 15’s episode to take down the clan and claim the show’s real winner. On Tuesday’s episode, he faced Lydia-Claire, a web development team lead from Lafayette, Tennessee, and Tom Winiarski, a media strategist and Dead-Head from Briarcliff Manor, New York. Ben picked up his lost streak with absolute thunder as he gained his victory against 8-game winner Hannah Wilson. Well, Ben did achieve his five-for-five runaway games in the history of “modern” ‘Jeopardy!’
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What happened to Ben Chan?
Ben Chan, a philosophy professor at St Norbert College from Green Bay, Wisconsin, earned his three games victory in April. However, despite his consistent winnings, he was absent from the April 14 episode. In his absence, the other three contestants faced off as Ben took a leave. He later revealed the reason for his absence on April 18 during a virtual appearance adding, “Before yesterday’s episode taped, I had tested positive for Covid; it was a very mild case, as you can see, I’m fine. Most importantly, my buzzer finger is fine, so I’m excited to watch what happens over the next few weeks and see who I’ll be competing against on May 15," as per The Sun.
On the May 15 episode of ‘Jeopardy!’, Ben Chan returned and faced off champion Hannah Wilson, adding yet another episode in the early 2000s history of the show where two returning champions are competing in one game. Although Hannah’s defeat was unexpected, she’ll be back to take her reign in September’s winner tournament.
Ben Chan’s five-for-five winning
‘Jeopardy!’ host Mayim Bialik reflected on the oddity of this week’s games, saying, “We had an unusual start to the week with two returning co-champions. But Ben Chan came up with the victory against 8-game winner Hannah Wilson with a huge payday of $60,000- the second highest this season." She continued, “Let's see if Ben can keep his newly restarted streak going."
While some fans were bothered by the rescheduling of Ben’s return, Hannah and Ben will play in September’s Tournament of Champions. On Tuesday’s episode, Ben smirked as he put on his classic close-to-the-vest buzzer stance and answered the two Daily Doubles correctly. On the other hand, his rival Tom did find the remaining Daily Doubles but was left out of the game due to an incorrect response. Lydia-Claire also played well, but Ben wasn’t an easy catch to pin down. He once again achieved another streak by Final Jeopardy and stocked at $26,400. Lydia-Claire had $11,200, and Tom had $5,200. The Final Jeopardy! under “Authors” read, "In 1960 Jean-Paul Sartre wrote of this man’s 'victorious attempt…to snatch every instant of his existence from his future death”. Only Ben was able to solve this with the correct answer, “Camus”, adding another $1,599 totaling his triumph to $27,999.
After Ben’s incredible and outstanding winnings, let’s see what Wednesday, May 17 episode has in its store!
