Jeopardy!‘s Champions Wildcard continues as host Ken Jennings welcomes back returning competitors Tony Freitas, Mason Maggio, and Yoshie Hill to the Alex Trebek stage in the October 26 game.
But the game was more than a second chance for one player as Yoshie recalled her original appearance on the fan-favorite game show back in 2020. “Speaking of Jeopardy! distinctions, you were the champion on the very last game hosted by Alex Trebek,” Jennings pointed out when it was time for competitors to share anecdotes with the audience.
“Well, actually, I was the loser that day,” she clarifies, but she was the returning champion from the day prior. “So, I was a two-time champion,” she notes, adding she had “Come back for my third game but I lost on a stupid bet on Final Jeopardy!”
(Credit: Jeopardy!, Inc. )
“But little did we know that that was actually going to be Alex’s last show,” she continues. As viewers of Jeopardy! will remember, Trebek died Sunday, November 8, 2020, after a lengthy battle with pancreatic cancer.
Yoshie commended Alex for his composure amid the pain and sickness. “I was on the stage and it was remarkable, for a man who actually was very, very sick, standing that close to me, he looked so good. I never would have known. And he had so much energy and focus. And with each contestant. It must have taken a tremendous amount of effort to maintain that level of professionalism on that day.”
Jennings notes that it did take Alex a great deal of effort, saying, “He was not in good health backstage, but then he would come out here and he could do the show. This was the place where he felt confident and on top of things. And I’m so glad he had that so late in his life.”
On top of remembering Alex, Yoshie had a good night of gameplay, coming out on top against Tony and Mason with a score of $11,200. She doubled her initial score of $5,600 when she entered Final Jeopardy! with. The category was “Famous Families” with the clue reading, “In 2020 former U.S. ambassador to Ireland, the last of 9 siblings in this dynastic family, died at 92.” Ultimately, the answer was “What is Kennedy?”
Both Yoshie and Tony were correct with their answers, leaving the final scores as Yoshie at $11,200, Tony at $4,800, and Mason at $3,999.
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