One Jeopardy! contestant’s game ended in a disastrous loss, and they spoke out about what exactly happened and shared their thoughts on the whole game on Reddit.
Geoff Barnes, from Washington D.C., returned for game two on Friday, May 30 against Heather Ide, from Monmouth, Illinois, and Chad Heltzel, from Denver, Colorado, with a one-day total of $24,000.
The game started out really well for Ide, a special education paraprofessional. She answered the first question right for $600 then found the Daily Double on clue three. She only had $600 but was able to wager up to $1,000, so she did just that. In “In the words of a poet,” the clue read, “‘All our woe, with loss of Eden, till one greater man restore us, and regain the blissful seat, sing heav’nly muse.’” Ide answered correctly with “Who is Milton?” and led with $1,600.
“I was thrilled to see a poetry category – I was an English major in college but also cognizant that I was playing against an English teacher. I think I had even talked about the possibility of us cannibalizing each other earlier in the day,” Ide shared on Reddit. “Lucky me, the DD happened to be in poetry. I had read some of Paradise Lost in college, and Milton was my immediate thought, but I still succumbed to a little bit of overthinking before committing.”
She continued to dominate the first half of the round, but the reigning champion passed her by the end with $3,400. Ide had $2,400. Heltzel was still not on the board with $0.
Ide found the first DD in Double Jeopardy on clue five. This time, she didn’t have as much luck. She had $3,200 and made it a true Daily Double. In “Music-Pourri,” the clue read, “The Apollo, introduced in the early 20th century, was a popular version of this alliterative automatic keyboard.” Ide did not give an answer and said, “Nah,” resulting in her dropping down to $0. The correct answer was a player piano.
“1st DD Bet: Let me just say: I did not like these categories from the jump, and though I had studied up on classical music, I was hoping the ‘Music Hodgepodge’ was popular music. It was not. I felt like I was getting beat on the buzzer more and more, I knew how good Geoff was and Chad had started heating up. I think I was only a couple thousand behind Geoff, I didn’t think betting 1 or 2k would achieve much if I got it right, but definitely would set me back if I got it wrong,” Ide shared.
“1st DD Clue: ‘Player piano’ is something that I’ve vaguely heard of before, but couldn’t pull up. I knew the response had to include some other word for ‘keyboard,’ but my brain went to ‘organ’ first for some reason and got stuck there,” she continued.
The rest of the round didn’t go so smoothly for Ide. She found the last DD of the game and that was where her already bad game took a turn for the worse. She wagered $2,000 in “Nations Found in State.” The clue was “(country names that can be formed using the letters in the named state) – Pennsylvania: This landlocked Asian country.” She answered, “What is Syria?” but the correct answer was Nepal. Ide dropped into the negatives.
“I find it when I’m so far in the negatives the max bet won’t get me out of it (iirc). Even though it probably didn’t end up mattering that much, this clue still haunts me to this day because ‘landlocked’ had me wracking my brain for Central Asian countries that could possibly fit. I honestly think it would have been easier if it had just said ‘Asian,’” the contestant wrote on Reddit.
“After that, frustration had definitely disrupted my focus. At some point, I realized I couldn’t get out of the negatives, but kept fighting anyway,” she added.
By the end of the round, Ide only answered two clues. She ended with -$3,200 and was ineligible to compete in Final Jeopardy. Barnes, an analyst, led with $12,600. Heltzel finally pulled his weight and ended with $7,200.
Ide shared a tidbit that no one had ever shared before. She said since she had a negative amount, “someone led me to a lone chair by the judge’s table during Final.” She had to watch the final play out without participating in it from the sidelines. However, Ide shared that she “felt almost at peace and kind of in awe” about the whole situation.
The Final Jeopardy question was in the category “Novel Characters.” The clue was “Likely a nod to the actor who first played him in 1962, this character was subsequently given Scottish ancestry by way of his father.”
Both Barnes and Heltzel were correct with their answer of, “Who is James Bond?” Barnes wagered $1,801, giving him a final total of $14,401. Heltzel wagered $5,500, giving him $12,700. Barnes was the night’s winner with a two-day total of $38,401.
After the game was over, Ide said, “After I came back up to my podium for the post-game chat, Ken [Jennings] told me he thought I did the right thing in re: the Daily Double(s), and that he admired the way I played. That felt amazing to hear.”