Jeopardy! Contestant Speaks Out After TOC Shocker

[Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for the Monday, January 19, episode of Jeopardy!]

The Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions kicked off with a shocking result. Read on to find out if six-game champions Liam Starnes advanced to the semi-finals or if someone else took that spot.

The Tournament of Champions is played in three rounds. The 18 contestants who qualify compete in six, semi-final games. The winners from those games compete against Scott Riccardi, Laura Faddah, or Paolo Pasco in the next three games. From there, the winners of those three games advance to the finals, in which the first player to secure three wins in seven games is crowned the champion and takes home $250,000, a trophy, and the ToC title.

Starnes, from Columbus, Ohio, played against Tom Devlin, from Washington D.C., and Aaron Levin, from Seattle, Washington, on January 19. Starnes, a payment program manager, might have been the favorite to win, but Devlin, an attorney, is a three-game champion and a fierce competitor. Levine, a sports anchor, is also a three-game champion, so Starnes was up against some tough competition.

Starnes found the Daily Double on clue five. With $1,600 in his bank, he made it a true Daily Double and wagered it all in “Literary Quotations.” The clue read, “William Blake wrote that if these portals ‘were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, infinite.’”

He didn’t have an answer until host Ken Jennings prompted him. “What are mirrors?” Starnes answered incorrectly. The correct response was the doors of perception, so he dropped down to $0.

However, Starnes got back on the board and had $1,200 after the first 15 clues, putting him in third place. By the end of the round, Starnes only racked up $200 more to give him a total of $1,400. Levine, who was in first place in the first half, dropped down to second with $2,000. Devlin went from a negative score to $5,000.

In Double Jeopardy, Starnes found the first DD on clue one. He wagered the allotted $2,000 despite only having $1,400. In “How Tariff-ic,” the clue read, “senate.gov called this 1930 piece of tariff legislation ‘among the most catastrophic acts in congressional history.’” He was correct — “What is the Smoot-Hawley Tariff?” — and improved to $3,400.

However, Starnes didn’t have much luck in the rest of the beginning of the round. He hadn’t answered another clue after that when Levine found the second DD on clue 10. He had $5,600 and bet it all. In “20th Century Women of the World,” the clue was, “In 1935 she became director of the Vienna Psychoanalytic Training Institute.”

“Who is Joliot-Curie?” Levine answered. The correct response was Anna Freud. That brought Levine down to $0. Devlin still had the lead with $9,400.

Starnes gained momentum again, answering the next two clues correctly. The rest of the game was a race between Starnes and Devlin. But his correct responses weren’t enough to pull into first place.

Devlin ended with $19,400. Starnes had $6,200. Levine was in third place with $1,600.

The category for Final Jeopardy was “Famous Photos.” The clue read, “Being only 5’5″, photographer Joe Rosenthal had to climb on top of a Japanese sandbag to snap a photo while on this peak.” Only one contestant got the correct response of Mount Sirabachi, but was it enough for them to take the win?

Levine had the correct response, but he only bet $1, leaving him with $1,601. Starnes’ response was, “What is Iwo Jima?” He was wrong and wagered all of his money, making his final total $0. Devlin was sitting pretty, even if he had the wrong response. He just had to be careful with his wager. He also answered, “What is Iwo Jima?” Devlin wagered no money, so he ended with $19,400.

That made Devlin the night’s winner. He will advance to the semi-finals against Scott Riccardi and the quarterfinals game two winner.

Levine spoke out on Reddit about his DD response and the game. “Man, I feel bad for Aaron,” one fan said.

He replied, “Nothing that two months of therapy and psychoanalysis can’t cure after missing a clue on Anna Freud 😂. It hurt – BADLY. Tom fully outplayed us with his wealth of knowledge and buzzer acumen, but a steal was there for the taking with DD3. Incredibly happy for Tom though! A VERY deserving champ who I’ll be rooting for as the tournament goes on, and was an absolute pleasure to play against him and Liam (although I’d have preferred it in the semis lmao).”