Who won ‘Jeopardy!’ tonight? Inside the surprising Final Jeopardy move that nearly cost the win

Caleb Groen from California faced off against Lee Ann McGuire Whitlock and Owen Harrington for his third game in ‘Jeopardy!’ A lot of eyes were on Lee Ann McGuire Whitlock as she is the wife of Shane Whitlock, the winner of the College Championship and a celebrated participant of ‘Tournament of Champions’ and ‘Ultimate TOC.’ The beginning was shaky for both challengers as they delivered back-to-back wrong answers. On the other hand, Groen had a dream run in the first phase of the ‘Jeopardy!’ round. The returning champion gave eight correct answers on a trot and earned a commendable lead.

Harrington detected the first Daily Double at the ninth clue. Things were slowly starting to look up at that point. The Union Organizer had just gotten himself out of the red and was standing at $0. According to the rules, a contestant may wager up to $1,000 in the first DD if they do not have enough funds. Harrington decided to go all in and bet that amount. The DD was from the category, ‘Isle,’ and the clue read, “This Greek archipelago is so named because it forms a rough circle around the island of Delos.” The correct answer was Cyclades, but Harrington wrote, “What is the Delian?” The PhD candidate dropped to -$1000. Before the first commercial break (after the 15th clue), Groen boasted $6,800. In comparison, Lee Ann was in the red, carrying -$400, while Harrington was at $0.

Harrington recuperated well in the second half of the round. He answered three clues in lists, cycling, and Isle 5, pushing his winnings to $2,600, at the end of the ‘Jeopardy!’ round. Groen’s fabulous performance kept him at the top with $8,600, while Lee Ann was dead last with $0 in her account. During ‘Double Jeopardy,’ the DD luck shone on the returning champion. He detected the second one on the fourth clue. This one belonged to the category ‘Biology.’ At this point, the law and policy student had $13,000 to his name. He wagered $5,000, and the clue read, “The Latin for sleep gives us this term for a period when plants don’t grow, or organisms slow their metabolisms to guard resources.” The returning champion wrote, “What is dormancy?” which was deemed correct. His ascent continued, and by the time he found the final DD on the 19th clue, the student had collected $30,800.

Groen went big on the second DD, betting a whopping $8,000. The DD belonged to the category, ‘Words from Arabic,’ and the clue read, “These nomadic people take their name from an Arabic word for ‘a dweller in the desert.’” Groen responded with “Who are the Bedouin?” which was correct. Groen was fabulous in his run during ‘Double Jeopardy,’ giving 32 correct responses. His only wrong answer came on a $2,000 clue, but it did almost nothing to his position at the table. Groen entered ‘Final Jeopardy‘ with $38,800, giving him a dominant runaway lead. Harrington followed him with $1,400, while Whitlock bowed out with  -$2,400. This implied that only Harrington and Groen could participate in FJ.

This game’s FJ belonged to the category, ‘Building Projects,’ and its clue read,  “An unofficial ‘race’ between Japanese & Korean firms led to the construction of these, well southwest of both nations.” The correct answer was ‘Petronas Towers,’ but none of them could come up with it. Harrington lost $2 and walked away with $1,398. Groen, taking advantage of the massive gap between him and Harrington, wagered a massive $20,000. Despite losing $20,000, his incredible performance in other sections ensured that he was crowned the winner with $18,800. Groen will come back to defend his title in Tuesday’s episode. ‘Jeopardy!’ is a syndicated game that streams on both Hulu and Peacock.