'Jeopardy!' Champ Takes a Bold Shot at Ken Jennings

The returning Jeopardy! champ lost for the third night in a row on Wednesday (October 30), but this time, he went down swinging with a wild flex on Ken Jennings, sharing he once beat the host at his own game.

John Liu, a marketing analyst from Santa Monica, California, entered with a one-day total of $7,801 after what fans ruled was one of the toughest boards in memory and an “agonizing” phrasing Daily Double mistake. He faced Jacqui Kaplan, a high school English teacher from Sandy Hook, Connecticut, and Joseph Carlstein, a graduate student from Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

During the interviews, Jennings turned to Liu, saying that they have a history. “This is not your first time on a game show, John, I did not recognize you, but I think we’ve met before.”

“Yeah that’s right,” Liu replied. Going full Yogesh Raut circa his Season 39 run (who also boasted of beating Jennings at trivia, among other things), Liu plainly said: “I’ve actually beaten you on TV before, Ken.”

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“Wow,” Jennings responded as the audience chuckled. Liu explained it was on a program called Best Ever Trivia Show, and Jennings was the expert quizzer. “I made it to the final round, head to head against an expert. And you know, trivia is a game of skill and luck, and I got lucky enough to beat you in five questions.”

Jennings took a beat and quipped, “As you can tell, it really still stings. It’s been hard for me to get over, even though it’s years later.” After the audience laughed, he closed, “Congratulations on your success there and here.”

After the Jeopardy! round, Liu wasn’t able to manifest the success from his anecdote, trailing with $1,800, while Carlstein, bolstered by a $2000 Daily Double after sharing he went on a cross-country bike tour not unlike another Season 39 player Sean McShane (without the Long Island snub) led with $5,600, and Kaplan had $2,800.

In Double Jeopardy, Liu dropped $2000 on the second Daily Double unable to guess the “That’s a Really Big Ditch!” was “Hell’s Canyon,” a ditch he struggled to get out of.

Meanwhile, Carlstein got the remaining Daily Double, acing the “No, Not The Dog” clue as “Beagle.” The Daily Double miss for Liu, like his previous game, proved costly.

Going into Final Jeopardy, Carlstein led with $10,000, Kaplan was in second with $8,000 and Liu held $7,000. Jennings remarked, “Very tight game.”

The “ARTIFACTS” clue was, “Roughly, 180 of these were made & 50 remain; the man who created them was given a pension by the Archbishop of Mainz in 1465.” Liu was correct with “The Gutenberg Bible,” seizing the momentary lead, but so was Carlstein, adding $6,001 and emerging with a huge grin, the title of champ, and winnings of $16,001.

Fans flooded the Reddit thread for the episode, reacting to Carlstein’s win and sharing their thoughts on the nail-biter finish.

“Shout-out to Joseph’s absolutely heroic effort to maintain a poker face after ‘Gutenberg Bible’ was revealed to be correct and he knew he’d become a champ,” one fan wrote.

“Honestly, I wasn’t fooled by it, but I’m also good at poker,” wrote another.

“Quite surprised to see Travis Scott and Grenade both be triple stumpers,” wrote a third.

“Some of us only listen to good music!” quipped a fourth.

“Some really… ‘loose’ writing on the Before & After clues today; normally, those feel a lot tighter. The one for ‘Fly by Night of the Living Dead’ really stuck out as an especially rough one to me,” wrote a fifth.

“Joseph had one sharp suit. Also, as one Joseph to another, glad he got the Chief Joseph clue,” joked a sixth.

A seventh remarked, “Joseph should be able to see the board from podium 1 going forward – no squinting.”

'Jeopardy!' Bosses Reveal Ken Jennings' 'Great Quality' & How He's Tough on Himself

“Dude needs to update his prescription,” one more said.

What did you think of the game? Can Joseph Carlstein break the week-long curse and make it to a second win? Let us know in the comments section below!

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