'Jeopardy!': One-day champion Jesse Chin loses all his earnings to debutant Diandra after a head-scratching final question

Jesse Chin was looking on course to establish his second win but the question stumped him and eventually lost the Final Jeopardy wager
PUBLISHED MAY 27, 2023
Jesse Chin looks dejected after Diandra D’Alessio crowned new winner on 'Jeopardy!' (NBC)
Jesse Chin looks dejected after Diandra D’Alessio crowned new winner on 'Jeopardy!' (NBC)

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: ‘Jeopardy!' has once again managed to pull out the rabbit of a hat. In a completely unexpected moment, a contestant and a one-day champion leading the board lost it all with the ultimate question in the final segment of the game show. Jesse Chin, the returning ‘Jeopardy!’ champion had entered the May 26 game with a one-day total of $24,810. He was pitted against Alice Ciciora, a political scientist and researcher, and Diandra D’Alessio, a technical writer. It is to be noted that Diandra was making her ‘Jeopardy!’ debut on the night.

The game show kicked off on a good note for all the contestants as the scores were fairly close until the first break. However, things changed quickly after that. Jesse had amassed a total of $2,800 while Diandra wasn’t far behind with $2,000 but Alice lagged with just $800. It was an intense battle between Jesse and Diandra who never lost sight of each other’s scores. Although, Alice who was trailing the two, managed to garner $8,900 at the end of the Double Jeopardy, leaving Jesse second with $8,600, and Diandra with $7,800. The game was poised for a heart-thumping finale heading into the Final Jeopardy segment but in an unexpected turn of events, Alice and Jesse threw it all away.

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Diandra won on her ‘Jeopardy!’ debut

Mayim Bialik put forth the Final Jeopardy question before the contestants. The clue read: "The third-most famous group that invaded Britain in the 5th century, they gave their name to the continental part of Denmark.” There was a moment of brief pause as the three contestants pondered but none of them could answer correctly towards the end. Jesse was sure that he would win and bet big on the question. He was left with $0 and Alice also lost the majority of her winnings, taking her total to $599. 

Diandra only wagered $4,501 which left her with $3,299 and emerged victorious on the night. There was a moment of disbelief for everyone present in the studio. Jesse was looking on course to establish his second win but the question stumped him and the others but the heaviest price was paid by Jesse. He even took to Reddit to express his disappointment and wrote, “Hey man! I had no clue and just wanted to write something down! Third most famous invaders is just a wild clue to me.”

An end of nine runaway wins

Ben Chan, the nine-day ‘Jeopardy!’ champion, also had to do away with his winning streak due to a controversial spelling decision against him recently. His shocking defeat after a record nine runaway wins and $256,000 came down to just one wrong letter. The viewers were furious and blamed the host, Mayim Bialik for going against Ben. According to Jeopardy!.com: “Jeopardy! is not a spelling test – unless, of course, the category requires it. This clarification only added fuel to the fire for the fans who were enjoying Ben’s winning streak up until that point.

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