champions

[Warning: The following post contains MAJOR spoilers for the Tuesday, September 16, episode of Jeopardy!]

Paolo Pasco returned for his fifth Jeopardy! game on Tuesday, September 16, where he tried to win yet again to qualify for the upcoming Tournament of Champions.

A Jeopardy! player must win five games to participate in the ToC. With a four-day total of $107,342 and multiple runaway wins, the odds looked good for Pasco, a puzzle writer.

For his fifth game, the San Diego, California, resident played against Susan Harris, from Chicago, Illinois, and Alex Rossell Hayes, from Baltimore, Maryland.

The beginning of the game started off great for Pasco. He correctly answered three out of four clues, and on the fifth clue, he found the Daily Double. Pasco had $2,400 in his bank and made it a true Daily Double. In “Words in Friendliness,” the clue read, “From the Latin for ‘unfaithful,’ it’s an unbeliever with respect to a particular religion.” “What is infidel?” he answered correctly, doubling his winnings to $4,800.

Pasco answered 16 clues correctly in the first round and none incorrectly, giving him $10,800. Harris, a professor, had six correct answers and a total of $4,200. Despite getting one wrong, Hayes had a total of five correct responses for $4,000.

The beginning of the Double Jeopardy round saw a few correct responses from both Pasco and Hayes, as well as two Triple Stumpers. Pasco found the first DD of the round on clue seven. He had $14,000 in his bank and wagered $5,000. In “Fiery Words & Phrases,” the clue was “A Christian rite begins this phrase for a severe introductory trial.” Pasco correctly answered with “What is baptism by fire?” giving him a huge lead with $19,000.

The rest of the round was filled with Triple Stumpers, correct answers from Pasco, and a few from his opponents, but they couldn’t catch up to him in the end. The final DD was found by Pasco again on clue 23. He had $25,400 and wagered $2,000 in “‘Great’ Stuff.” The clue was “This 5,000 aquatic carnivore can detect one drop of blood in 25 gallons of water.” The correct response was “What is a great white shark?” which Pasco came up with, giving him a lead of $27,400.

Going into Final Jeopardy, the reigning champion’s score was $28,200. Hayes moved up to second with $9,600. Harris had $3,400.

The category for Final Jeopardy was “Historic Americans.” The clue read, “Upon this man’s re-election, Karl Marx called him ‘the single-minded son of the working class.’” None of the contestants got it right, and two of them gave joke answers. Abraham Lincoln was the correct response.

Harris answered with “Who is Andrew Jackson?” She wagered $3,399 and dropped down to $1. Hayes’ answer was “Who has thumbs and is happy to come in second?” Clearly wrong, his final total was $9,599 after wagering $1. Pasco took a risk with his answer — “Who wants to recreate that OK Go music video with me?” — but was careful with his wager of $1,026.

This made Pasco the night’s winner with a final total of $27,174. He qualified for the Tournament of Champions and has a five-day total of $134,516. Pasco will return for game six on Wednesday, September 17.

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