Who won ‘Jeopardy!’ tonight? Adam Remsen faces tough competition in his seventh game
Adam Remsen returned for his seventh game on Monday's episode of 'Jeopardy!' The theater producer had earned a total of $124,502 and looked forward to adding to it. In this episode, he faced off against Kyla Wall-Polin from Petaluma, California, and Carlos Cea from San Francisco, California. The game was interesting, as it was the first time in a long while that Remsen did not enter Final Jeopardy (FJ) with a runaway lead. This situation could be put down to the Daily Doubles (DD) in the second round. All three put their best foot forward to win the game and gain 'Jeopardy!' glory.
By the end of the second clue in the 'Jeopardy!' category, Wall-Polin and Remsen were tied with $800 each. Things changed when the returning champion detected a DD on the third clue. It belonged to the category 'Literary Subtitles,' and the clue read, "This Cormac McCarthy novel subtitled 'The Evening Redness in the West' has been called both the ultimate Western & anti-Western." Remsen answered, "What is 'Blood Meridian'?" which was deemed correct. Remsen wagered $1,000 for this DD, and he had gone all in. Hence, he now had $1,800 in his kitty. From this point on, Remsen dominated the proceedings. By the time the first commercial break arrived (after clue 15), he was at the top spot with $8,400, having answered ten clues correctly. Cea had made considerable headway and was in second with $2,200. Wall-Polin remained at $800.
Things remained more or less the same throughout the round. Remsen ended 'Jeopardy!' with $10,600 in his pocket. Cea followed behind with $3,200, while Wall-Polin had made a considerable jump to $3,000. Cea impressed a lot with his run in 'Double Jeopardy' (DJ). After giving back-to-back correct answers, he also had some DD luck, as he detected one on clue 11. At that point, he was $6,200 away from Remsen, who remained at the top with $14,600. Cea bet $4,000 for the DD in the category 'Biblical Geography?' and its clue read, "The name of this capital city between the Pacific Ocean & the Andes is the Spanish version of an apostle's name." The software quality assurance engineer answered, "What is Santiago?" which was correct. If Cea had been a little braver with his wagering, he could have taken the lead with this DD.
The opportunity to correct his mistake arrived after five clues, when he picked up another DD. This one belonged to the category, 'Math Folk,' and its clue read, "In the 18th c. Leonhard Euler popularized 'Latin Squares', forerunners of the puzzles that got this name in 1984." At this point, Cea was just $2,000 away from Remsen and decided to be bold with his wager. He went in with $4,000 and answered, "What are Rubik's Cubes?" This was unfortunately incorrect and pulled him down to $10,400. Going into FJ, Remsen maintained his lead with $20,600 on the back of 28 correct responses, while Cea had $12,400 and 14 correct answers. This meant that all came down to Final Jeopardy. Wall-Polin remained dead last with $5,400 in her account.
FJ was from the category 'Ancient Authors,' and the clue read, "A mural discovered in Tajikistan of a man stabbing a fowl is cited as evidence that this author's works traveled the Silk Road." Only Remsen got it right with "Who is Aesop?" The wrong answers dwindled Cea and Wall-Polin's numbers to $4,199 and $2,500, respectively. Remsen's wager of $4,201 elevated him to $24,801 and his Jeopardy! winnings to $149,303. He is now set to return for his eighth game on Tuesday.
