‘Jeopardy!’ Fans Question ‘Illegible’ Final Jeopardy Answer From Champ

This season of Jeopardy! has had several questionable calls — from “weird” clues to “tough” pronunciation rulings to unwise wagers and beyond — and Wednesday’s (October 16) episode was no exception. This time, it was the champion’s Final Jeopardy response that left some viewers scratching their heads over whether it should’ve been accepted or not.

Rishabh Wuppalapati, a student at the University of Pennsylvania, returned for his second game after winning the previous round, and had a close game on his hands against the incoming challengers: Rachel Cassidy, an associate professor from Rhode Island, and Jay Eversman, an environmental lawyer from Missouri. 

Things were tight from start to finish. In the first round, Wuppalaptai got the Daily Double answer incorrect (losing $1,000) and found himself in the middle of the pack with $3,200 to Cassidy’s $2,400 and Eversman’s $3,800. The second round wasn’t much different, either. He and Cassidy were in a horse race all the way through, trading leads until the very last question. Coming into Double Jeopardy, Wuppalapati had a narrow lead with $10,400 to Cassidy’s $10,100, while Eversman trailed with $4,800.

Final Jeopardy, then, was quite determinative, and some fans weren’t convinced his answer deserved to be accepted by the producers.

The clue for the Final Jeopardy category of “College Towns” was, “2 schools in the Southeastern Conference are located in cities with this same name but in different states.” The correct answer was “Columbia,” since both the University of South Carolina and the University of Missouri are located in the city of that name in their respective states, and both schools are now members of the SEC (they even dub their annual matchups the “Mayor’s Cup” as a nod to their shared hometown name). 

Both Cassidy and Wuppalapati were marked as correct in the Final Jeopardy round, with the latter’s bet taking him into victory with $20,201 (and a two-day total of $42,402), a $300 margin over Cassidy’s final score.

However, some fans on Reddit expressed dismay that his was accepted, as it was scribbled in a way that made the call questionable to them.

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“Man I just do not know if that said ‘Columbia.’ I guess if it’s good enough for Ken [Jennings, host] though,” wrote one viewer, with another agreeing, “Yeah, kind of a crazy call…just my opinion!”

“My ruling was that his response was illegible,” wrote another. “Apparently my rulings have little influence.” 

Others in the thread parsed out the potential reasoning for the decision, with one respondent agreeing that his answer was “messy” and looked more like “Cdumlag” than “Columbia,” but adding, “It’s not up to Ken. The judges see what each contestant is writing in real time, and they make the ruling.”

“I think it’s great that the J! Crew can see and rewatch contestants writing FJ! because, at the end of the day, the judges and Ken’s rulings are the only ones that matter,” another chimed in. 

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