The still sort-of popular game show ‘Jeopardy’ made internet headlines recently for breaking a record. In the shows 20-something year history, never has there been a three way tie – that is, until last Friday when contestants Jamey Kirby, Anders Martinson and Scott Weiss all answered the Final Jeopardy question correctly.
In Friday’s episode, the Final Jeopardy category was “Women of the 1930s” and the answer was “1 of the men who shot her realized when he saw her body that she’d often waited on him at a café in Dallas’ Each of the contestants answered correctly with “Who is Bonnie Parker?” Prior to revealing their wagers, Weiss’ score was $13,400 and Martinson and Kirby’s score was $8,000. After their Final Jeopardy wagers were added to their scores, they all managed to come out with exactly $16,000.
Kirby and Martinson wagered as much as they could on the final question but one would question Weiss’ choice to wager exactly enough to match his opponents total score, should all of them get the question right. The Associated Press pointed out that Weiss could be seen whispering something to his opponents just before his answer and wager was revealed, suggesting that Weiss intentionally wagered just enough to match his opponents’ scores. The common ‘Jeopardy’ strategy is to wager a dollar over that amount, ensuring the win.
Below is a video of the event as it took place. The whole thing doesn’t seem all that exciting but it’s worth it just to here Trebek’s enthusiastic exclamation when Weiss’ wager is revealed:
