‘Jeopardy!’ Favorite Foils Tournament of Champions Success With Final Jeopardy! Bid

Meaghan Darwish March 7, 2024, 7:35 pm

Jared Watson, Ben Chan, and Ike Barinholtz for 'Jeopardy!' Tournament of Champions — Jeopardy!, Inc.

Jeopardy!‘s Tournament of Champions has reached the semifinals, and with it comes the end of a long-running streak for one of its players as Jared Watson, Ben Chan, and Ike Barinholtz went head-to-head in the March 7 game.

Having already won their quarterfinal games to reach this round, the players already showed promise for potential success in the Tournament, but out of the three, only two knew what it was like to lose a game of Jeopardy!… until now. That’s because Ike Barinholtz, the producer, writer, and actor — who was a Celebrity Jeopardy! champion — lost his first game in this semifinal round.

As the Celebrity Jeopardy! champion, Barinholtz won every round in that tournament and continued the winning streak upon entering the Tournament of Champions, but the fun and games came to an end as he and Jared Watson lost out to 9-game champion Ben Chan.

(Credit: Tyler Golden/ABC)

What stings about the loss is that Barinholtz could have easily had the win if he didn’t bet so high in Final Jeopardy!, a round that none of the players found the correct answer for.

As the game reached Final Jeopardy!, Barinholtz held a solid middle place against Watson and Chan with $10,400. Ultimately, Chan was the one to beat as he went into the final round with $15,200. And Watson wasn’t much of a match with his measly $3,600. The category “Ancient Drama,” presented them with the clue, “From the 470s B.C., Aeschylus’ earliest surviving work has this title; he’d fought them repeatedly in the preceding years.”

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The correct response was, “What is The Persians?” But no one was able to remedy the answer. Watson bet nothing, holding onto his $3,600. Meanwhile, Chan bet big, leaving him down a few dollars with a final score of $9,599. This meant that Barinholtz had the potential to win if he didn’t bet, but unfortunately for the actor, he bet it all, leaving him with a final score of $0.

What do you think of the outcome of this latest Tournament of Champions game? Let us know in the comments section, below, and stay tuned as the games continue.

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