‘Jeopardy!’ Contestant Has Dominant Win: Did One-Day Curse Get Broken?

Ever since Jamie Ding won 31 Jeopardy! games, fans have been expecting contestants to win more than one game. Greg Shahade, who beat Ding, won three games before being defeated. Since then, there have only been single-day champions. Can the May 6 champ break that curse?

Shannon Crisenbury, from St. Clair, Michigan, won her first game with a total of $38,400. For her second game, the data annotator played against Tristan Williams, from Lincoln, Nebraska, and Lauren Black, from San Jose, California. Warning: Spoilers for the May 6 episode of Jeopardy! ahead.

“For the fourth straight game, we have a new champion,” host Ken Jennings said at the beginning of the episode. “This time, in Shannon Crisenbury, who entered Double Jeopardy yesterday in a distant third, before finding both Daily Doubles, betting big, and taking a narrow lead heading into the final, where her correct response of ‘Who is Celine Dion?’ guaranteed that her heart, and her Jeopardy! journey, would go on.”

Williams, a data scientist, had the lead of $5,200 when he found the Daily Double on clue 11. He wagered $4,000 in “Big Business.” The clue read, “Though this company has made billions of Galaxies, its name is Korean for just ‘3 stars.'”

“What is Mitsubishi?” he answered incorrectly. The correct response was Samsung, so Williams dropped down to $1,200. However, he was still in first place as Crisnebury had $600, and Black, a sales assistant, was in the negatives.

He still had the lead by the first 15 clues with $2,000. Although Crisenbury was only $400 away from him at this point.

By clue 18, they were tied. Although they went back and forth, Williams came out on top by the end of the round with $3,400. Crisenbury had $2,600. Black was in third place with -$800.

William had $5,000 when he found the first Double Jeopardy DD on clue five. He wagered $4,000 again. In “1840s America,” the clue read, “In Nov. 1842 Father Edward Sorin & friends took possession of 500 acres of snow in Indiana, the start of this school.”

“What is Notre Dame?” he answered. Williams added $4,000, giving him $9,000.

He then found the second DD on the next clue. William wagered $5,000 in “It’s Simple Physics.” The clue was “This type of attraction isn’t limited to iron, from which its name is derived; it also applies to nickel & cobalt.”

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“What is magnetic attraction?” the game show contestant answered incorrectly. Williams dropped back down to $4,000 since the correct response was ferromagnetism. He was still in first place.

Although Crisenbury put up a good game with $7,400, it wasn’t enough for her to be in first place. Williams had a big lead with $20,400. Black ended with -$800, disqualifying her from Final Jeopardy.

“Geographic History” was the category for Final Jeopardy. The clue read, “About 10,000 sq. miles, this region was the subject of a 19th c. war, declared independence in 1917, reorganized in 1921 & is under dispute to this day.”

Only one of the contestants had the right response of “What is Crimea?” Crisenbury was that contestant. She wagered all of her money, giving her $14,800. Even though Williams wrote “What is ?”, his wager was only $400, keeping him in the lead with $20,000.

This made Crisenbury a new one-day champion, keeping the curse alive. Williams will return on Thursday for game two. Can he break it?

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