A JEOPARDY! contestant has mystified fans by blowing the game with the Final Jeopardy response of “Joanna” instead of “Joan of Arc.”
Alan Johnson explained “what the heck happened” in an internet post and how Ken Jennings had to take a step back after his “close” yet “dead wrong” answer.
The other two contestants got Final Jeopardy correct as ‘Joan of Arc’Credit: Jeopardy!
Alan had the lead going in and would have won if correctCredit: Jeopardy!
Alan opened up about how he ‘overthought it’ but ‘held out hope’ as Jeopardy! called time for 10 ‘frenzied’ minutesCredit: Jeopardy!
Jeopardy! is in the midst of its new Champions Wildcard tournament, with dozens of former winners back at the buzzer to populate the next Tournament of Champions.
The competition was stiff on Friday as the analytics engineer from Metuchen, New Jersey, faced Kate Lazo, an educational consultant from Walnut Creek, California, and Dennis Chase, a biotech project manager from Palm Springs, California.
In Double Jeopardy, there were around seven lead changes, with Alan eventually leading into a very close Final Jeopardy.
The clue under the category “The Catholic Church” read: “The 1456 posthumous annulment of this woman’s sentence by the Church was witnessed by her mother Isabelle.”
Kate was correct with “Who is: Joan of Arc,” nearly doubling from $9,600 to $19,100.
Dennis was also correct and bet $10,500 looking thrilled to advance to the tournament’s semifinals with $23,000.
However, it was Alan who had the lead going in with $13,200, so it was a sorry sight when he revealed: “Who is: Joanna” when it seemed like it was going to be a triple-get.
Ken, 49, ruled him incorrect and his score plummeted to $1,399.
Fans on Reddit were clueless as to whether Alan got the name wrong or was thinking of someone else; one person wrote: “I’d love to hear Alan’s thought process on this one.”
Another wrote: “Was he just doing a shout-out to the classic Kool & The Gang song?
‘JOAN OF FREAKING ARC’
Alan explained what happened in a WordPress post appropriately titled: “Joan of Freaking Arc.”
He began: “While in complete control of my own destiny, I got bounced out of the first round of my Champions Wildcard Tournament on a Final Jeopardy question that I would guess correctly probably 9 days out of 10.
I snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. What the heck happened?”
He explained: “I see ‘Isabelle’ and I think of Queen Isabella of Castile, who financed Columbus’s voyage.”
He admitted: “Joan of Arc crosses my mind, but something about ‘annulled’ throws me off her trail.”
He said once “Joan of Arc” was revealed correct: “My heart drops. Now, I regret my answer.”
“The right answer was in my head, but I didn’t pick it.
I spent much of the next couple days trying to figure out how I could have gotten this clue so badly wrong.”
“Fundamentally, I overthought it. My brain was fried from the game.
‘FRANTIC 10 MINUTES OF MISERY’
He then described: “The producer halts filming. The audience gasps, but I know exactly what’s happening.
“They are considering whether to give me credit for ‘Joanna’, since it’s so close to ‘Joan’.
“All of this will be cut from the broadcast, but probably close to 10 minutes passes with all three of us at our podiums, while the staff frantically call and research.
“Ken walks towards the audience, explains that a review is happening, and does an impromptu round of Q&A to keep them entertained. I can’t believe it. It’s possible I might win, despite being dead wrong.”
He admitted: “But the Jeopardy judges are notoriously particular on Final Jeopardy. I feel it’s maybe a 15% chance they gave it to me, so my hopes aren’t very high.
“The minutes crawl. I see the producers looking like they have come to a consensus, but some more time is spent doing a retake of Ken’s commentary from Dennis’s answer so they smoothly edit what was about to happen with what happened before the cut.
“Finally, Ken reveals my answer, and says, ‘I’m sorry, we can’t accept that. We would have taken Joan, Jean, or Jeanne.'”
“At last, I am put out of my misery.”
Alan concluded: “Better players than me have fumbled the bag. It all goes to show, Jeopardy! is not just about what you know. It’s about being able to control your own brain in real-time.”
This comes just a few games after producers stopped filming when a player was controversially ruled incorrect by leaving off one letter in a lengthy Final Jeopardy response.
Alan explained that his so-close-yet-so-far answer caused a painful deliberationCredit: Jeopardy!
He shared that Final Jeopardy! was re-shot and his ‘brain was fried’ from the intense gameCredit: Jeopardy!
