Did ‘Jeopardy!’ Contestant Make Critical Mistake in Daily Double Against Isaac Hirsch?

Meredith Jacobs July 15, 2024, 7:30 pm

Brenna Sniatecki and Isaac Hirsch of 'Jeopardy!' — Jeopardy!, Inc.

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for the July 15 episode of Jeopardy!]

Could there have been a new Jeopardy! champion if one of the new players of the July 15 game bet more on a Daily Double?

Customer support team lead Isaac Hirsch from Burbank, California, came into the game an eight-day champion, with his winnings totaling $195,389. The two new contestants were drama club director Brenna Sniatecki from Rochester, New York, and non-profit program officer and actor James Hayakawa from Davis, California. And while Hirsch has had a few dominating performances, he didn’t have the easiest game.

In fact, Hirsch was in second place (down $1,000, with Hayakawa in the lead) at the first break of the Jeopardy! round, though by the end of it, he was in first, with $6,600 (Sniatecki was in second with $3,000). It was in Double Jeopardy! that things could have gotten interesting. Hirsch was incorrect upon finding the second Daily Double of the game, and then Sniatecki found the third. She correctly answered, in “Fashion in Books,” the clue that read, “Aunt Alexandra & Atticus Finch get into an argument about this narrator wearing overalls.” She had $6,200 at the time, to Hirsch’s $11,600, but she had only wagered $3,000. Even host Ken Jennings commented on it, suggesting, “Maybe you could have bet more.”

One Reddit fan noted that with his miss on the previous Daily Double, she “had a golden opportunity to take first place on DD3 but didn’t wager enough.” Hirsch still led going into Final Jeopardy!, with $11,200 to her $10,000 (Hayakawa was in third with $4,000). But Sniatecki was incorrect on Final Jeopardy—in “Never Words,” the clue read, “Philosophers use it for language that accompanies an action, like ‘I dub thee knight’; it also means done for show or signal”—while the other two answered correctly. Hirsch once again walked away the victor, with a nine-day total now of $215,390.

'Jeopardy!': 7 Things to Know About Isaac Hirsch

Still, it was the Final Jeopardy! that mattered in the end, and one fan pointed out, the Daily Double wager, in the end, didn’t make a difference since she was incorrect in that last round. “But yeah that wager was a classic ‘I’m more afraid to lose than I am determined to win’ move — especially for a second-row clue, which was likely to be on the easier side,” the person added.

In response, another viewer suggested, “Psychologically, I wonder if it would make a difference to some players if there were no dollar signs in front of the scores, and they were referred to as points, which is what they really are.”

What did you think of the latest episode? Let us know in the comments section, below.

Jeopardy!, Weekdays, check local listings