‘Jeopardy!’ Fans React After Favorite Loses Dramatic Champions Wildcard Battle

Martin Holmes November 1, 2023, 7:39 am

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Hari Parameswaran on Jeopardy! — Jeopardy, Inc!

Hari Parameswaran quickly became a fan favorite when he returned last month for Jeopardy!‘s Second Chance tournament, which he won in a pretty dominant fashion, earning his spot in the currently airing Champions Wildcard.

Unfortunately, despite high expectations, Tuesday’s (October 31) episode of the long-running game show saw Parameswaran eliminated from the competition in devastating fashion.

The hardware engineer from Cupertino, California, faced off against Aaron Craig, an attorney from Toronto, Ontario, and Katie Hargrove, a professional organizer from Redondo Beach, California. Craig was a former 2-day champion on Season 37, while Hargrove was a 1-day champion on Season 38.

It was a back-and-forth battle between Parameswaran and Craig for most of the game, with both players flubbing on Daily Doubles at various points in the episode. Despite his early Daily Double miss, Parameswaran fought back, giving him the lead with $17,200 heading into Final Jeopardy. Craig stood at $14,000, while Hargrove trailed with $3,600.

The Final Jeopardy! clue in the category “Names The Same” read: “This first name is shared by a character introduced in 1941 and a member of royalty who is sixth in line to the British throne.”

All three players struggled to find the correct answer, which was “Archie,” as in the famous comic book character and Archie the son of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.

With all players answering incorrectly, it meant the game would come down to wagers. Craig, who wrote “Charlotte” as his answer, wagered just $3,202, dropping his total to $10,798. Parameswaran, who wrote “James,” however, wagered big, betting $11,000 and dropping to $6,200, meaning he was eliminated from the tournament.

It’s safe to say that fans were sad to lose Parameswaran, who many considered one of the strongest players in the competition.

“This episode bummed me out a little. Hari really struck me as the strongest player, but a few key things just happened to not go his way. That’s just how the game works, though,” wrote one viewer on the Jeopardy! Reddit forum.

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“Shame to see such a strong player as Hari, with a $22,800 Coryat (the total dollar value of the clues answered correctly, minus the total dollar value of the clues answered incorrectly), lose on a TS (Triple Stumper),” said another commenter.

“To Hari: even though you’re not moving on to the next round, you should feel proud of making it this far,” wrote another viewer on X (formerly Twitter).

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“It’s very unfortunate that FJ wagering works like that in 2/3 of leader’s score situations, I wanted to see more of Hari, he’s a great player,” added another.

Craig himself posted on the Reddit thread, where he praised Parameswaran for his performance.

“Huge respect to Hari,” Craig wrote. “His top Coryat of the tournament speaks for itself, and if we play 10 games, my guess is that Hari wins 7 or 8 out of 10 (which is what I told his parents the day after we taped).”

Craig now advances in the tournament, which sees brief champions from Season 37 and Season 38 returning for another shot at glory.

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