‘Jeopardy!’ Fans React to Second Chance Underdog’s First Win on the Show

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for the January 9 episode of Jeopardy!]

Today’s players in Jeopardy! Second Chance included Pam Warren, a high school science teacher from Petersburg, Illinois; April Marquet, a digital production artist from Oakland, California; and Rotimi Kukoyi, a health policy & management student at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill from Hoover, Alabama going head-to-head. However, the underdog of the match came out on top and won their first game.

Pam had a huge $1,000 start while her competition was still at $0, and then she successfully multiplied that number by answering the first Daily Double of the round. After answering incorrectly about a jumper being a type of shot (judges were looking for a 3-pointer), Rotimi tied with April for $2,000 just before the commercial break, and Pam was still in the lead.

During the interview portion of the show, host Ken Jennings revealed Rotimi as part of a previous teen tournament player unable to come back for the reunion games last year. The young man then revealed he was able to meet Alex Trebek and keeps in touch with his former fellow players at the time.

Jeopardy! Inc.

It must have been Trebek’s luck because Rotimi was able to jump ahead by successfully answering the second Daily Double in Double Jeopardy, doubling his score to $10,800 and taking the lead. However, April later claimed that lead by the time the game reached Final Jeopardy, and they each faced ‘The Ancient World’ category. The clue read, “This text helped the soul. Or KA. navigate a journey into a region called Amenti.”

Rotimi answered the Book of the Dead correctly and thanked Alex as he successfully wagered $6,401, beating out Pam’s doubled wager of $16,000 by just a single point.

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“Rotimi must have been granted a win from Alex Trebek himself because of his blessing towards him in Final Jeopardy!,” a user on the Jeopardy! Subreddit commented. “That was such a sweet moment. Hard not to root for him after that, as well as his reaction to winning his first game. I really thought it’d be a slug-out between April and Pam, but Rotimi’s move on DD2 helped him solidify his win.”

Another user responded, “Rotimi is a delightful person, and it’s incredibly impressive to see him play at that level at such a young age.”

What did you think of the youngster’s first win? Let us know in the comments below.

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