‘Jeopardy!’ Contestant Has One of Most Disastrous Games Ever – Fans React

Kelli Boyle
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'Jeopardy!' contestant Tim Herd with host Ken Jennings
Jeopardy, Inc.

[Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for the July 23, 2024 episode of Jeopardy!]

Jeopardy! fans hoped one player could stage a comeback after ending each round in the negatives in the July 23, 2024 episode.

Playing in the installment were returning champ Neilesh Vinjamuri, a software engineer from Lionville, Pennsylvania; Lindsay Denninger, a writer from Smithtown, New York; and Tim Herd, a Ph.D. student from Detroit, Michigan. Fans on Twitter pointed Tim out as a “sweet” player from the beginning of the episode, making them root for him as he fought to stay in the game. Sadly, Tim couldn’t bring his score back up. He only got one answer correct in the whole game, and his score remained in the negatives throughout, making him ineligible for Final Jeopardy.

His personality would certainly have earned him Mr. Congeniality for the episode, should the series award such a title. Fans were truly rooting for him, especially after his charming answer in the interview portion of the evening. Tim told host Ken Jennings that he does a lot of dancing to keep his mood up while working the long and arduous hours to complete his Ph.D. He has a hashtag for it as well that’s all about spreading “joy” through dance while working hard.

“It’s an act of showing my joy and encouraging other people to do the same,” Tim told Ken, who replied with a smile, “That’s great! I love that for you.”

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“Tim is sweet,” one wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “I like Tim. I hope he wins,” posted another. Others shared their hopes that Tim could turn things around. “Tim is in a deep freeze. Poor guy,” one said. As another tweeted, “I hope Tim can rebound in double jeopardy.”

While Tim’s scores were low throughout the game, he was far from setting any record for the lowest Jeopardy scores ever. His score after the first round was -$1,600, which a Reddit user wondered if it could be the lowest round-one score in the show’s history. But another comment pointed out that the record for that was set in 1985, when a player scored -$3,800 in the first round.

Tim’s final score was -$2,400, which is thousands away from the record for lowest final Jeopardy! score ever. That record belongs to Patrick Pearce, who ended his 2021 game with -$7,400. The second-lowest all-time score came recently in June 2024, when Erin Buker ended the game with -$7,200.

As for Tim’s competitors, Neilesh won the game with a score of $11,999 and Lindsay came in second with $5,000. Far from a runaway game, Lindsay could’ve won had she not wagered so much ($8,000) in her final bet. Scroll down to see the fan reactions to tonight’s game. What do you think? Does Tim deserve a second chance at playing? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

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