JEOPARDY!'s new champ, Neilesh Vinjamuri clinched a third victory on Tuesday night, but fans realized it was largely thanks to a challenger's fatally flawed final wager. The Lionville, Pennsylvania software engineer faced Smithtown, New York, writer Lindsay Denninger and Michigan Ph.D student Tim Herd.
Neilish entered a two-day total of $41,100 after two runaway wins and what Ken Jennings called a "dominant" performance last game. Since Jeopardy!'s Season 40 ends this Friday , fans were buzzing to see if the new reigning champ could fit in one last big streak. And it also seemed only fitting (see Isaac Hirsch ) that Neilesh's most dangerous challenger yet lost on what fans called a questionable final wager.
In the Jeopardy! round, the game quickly became a battle between Lindsay, who led with $9,600 after a True Daily Double, and Neilesh with $6,600 while Tim trailed with a rough -$3,600 Read more on Jeopardy! In Double Jeopardy, Lindsay found the second Daily Double but missed it, only dropping $3000, and Neilesh found the last one but also bet a conservative $2000 of his wide lead. As a result, the game was not a runaway going into Final Jeopardy; Neilesh had $19,000, Lindsay had $13,000, and poor Tim had $2,400, so he didn't stick around for the last round. The Final Jeopardy category was "HISTORIC SPOTS," and the correct response was "O.
K. Corral." Lindsay revealed she was incorrect and wagered $8,000, eliminating her chances of winning if Neilesh was incorrect.
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