‘Jeopardy!’ Fans React After ‘Bad Ruling’ and Huge Reversal Decides Game

[The following post contains MAJOR spoilers for the Monday, May 19, episode of Jeopardy!]

Jeopardy! fans discussed a ruling from the judges after a contestant was marked wrong on a Daily Double but, once it was overturned, it gave him a runaway win.

One-day Jeopardy! champion Mitch Loflin, from Long Beach, California, is back for his second game against Micah Green, from College Station, Texas, and Catherine Carnovale, from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on Monday, May 19. He had a total of $8,400.

“Following a come-from-behind win on Friday, our new champion, Mitch Loflin spent the weekend as our reigning Jeopardy! champion, but break time is over, Mitch. Time to get back to work,” host Ken Jennings said at the beginning of the episode.

The game started out pretty even among the contestants. Green, a chemical engineer, found the first Daily Double on question 11. He was tied with Loflin, a set decoration coordinator, with $1,200. Green made it a true Daily Double and wagered all of his money. In “Canadian History,” the clue read, “Lovers of Latin must have rejoiced when this name was officially adopted in 1713; it’s still on a province.”

“What is Nova Scotia?” he answered correctly, giving him $2,400, and the lead. By the first commercial break, Loflin was only $200 behind Green.

During the interview round, Green revealed that he is not the first person in his family to appear on Jeopardy!. His Aunt Mary was a four-day champion in January 1969. “And she still watches to this day,” he revealed.

“Well, I’m glad you made it on as well,” Jennings said.

By the end of the round, all three contestants had low totals. Green led with $4,800. Carnovale, a professor and creative producer, was only $200 behind with $4,600. The reigning champion trailed with $2,800.

The first Daily Double in Double Jeopardy didn’t come until question 15. Loflin found it and tried to get out of third place. He wagered $3,500, which would put him into the lead. In “All the Kings’ Menus,” the clue was, “This successor to a Sun King loved hot chocolate & sometimes made his own.”

“Who is Louis XV?” he answered correctly, putting him in first with $9,100. Carnovale was only $100 behind him.

Seven questions later, Loflin found the last DD of the game. With $13,100 in his bank, he held the lead. Loflin wagered $5,000. In “Grammar Police,” the clue read, “In the sentence ‘I fought the law and the law won’, the word ‘and’ is this type of conjunction.” Loflin hesitated before saying, “What is additive?”

“Sorry, no. It’s a coordinating conjunction,” Ken Jennings let him know. This dropped him down to $8,100, and second place.

However, Loflin, a father to seven tortoises, answered most of the remaining questions correctly, giving him a wide lead with $15,300. Carnovale had $11,400. Green was in third with $6,800.

When the game show came back from a commercial, Ken Jennings shared that the judges ruled “addictive conjunctions” to be correct on Loflin’s DD. This gave him a total of $25,300.

The category for Final Jeopardy was “Drama.” The clue was, “The first time a woman played a role on the professional stage in England, it was as this wife of a soldier in a play 50-some years old.”

Green answered, “Who is Lucilla?” That was wrong so he dropped down to $2,199, after wagering $4,601. Carnovale was also wrong with “Who is Lady Macbeth?” She wagered $2,201, giving her a final total of $9,199. Loflin was the only one correct on Final Jeopardy. He answered, “Who is Desdemona?” Loflin wagered $2,000, ending with $27,300.

This made him the night’s winner and a two-day total of $35,700. He will be back on Tuesday, May 20, for his third game against two new opponents.

Reddit users reacted to the ruling. “Didn’t end up mattering too much, but the writers really ought to make sure they’ve got all the alt answers covered—at least for Daily Doubles,” one said.

“Kudos to Mitch for not letting a bad ruling throw him off his game and coming back with a strong finish,” a fan replied.

“Seriously… that seems like a pretty basic thing to be on top of,” replied another.

“I don’t remember seeing a $10,000 swing during the FJ break before. Had the DD gone his way initially, he would have had a runaway for the moment, but there was a fair bit of game left to play. Having it jump so quickly was odd. It even felt to me that the Think music sounded subdued as the outcome of the game had so quickly become a done deal,” a Reddit user wrote.

“Wild swing back on DD3, been a while since I could remember a big reversal like that lol,” said another.

“So impressed with Mitch’s performance today. He was so behind after the Jeopardy round but kept plugging away,” a fan wrote.