DANGER! fans gained a new champion in Adriana Harmeyer on Wednesday night, who raised a strong $26,200 and instant buzz.
She bested Abby Mann and Brian O’Shea – who suffered a painful Daily Double failure that Ken Jennings didn’t exactly sugarcoat.
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Abby came away with a one-day total of $5,200, having defeated four-day champion Amar Kakirde.
Although she was the only one to win, after tonight’s Jeopardy! round, it was clear that their opponents came to play.
While Abby led with $4,800, Adriana boasted $3,800 (and the first Daily Double), and Brian with a bow tie had $4,600.
On Double Jeopardy!, Indiana art archivist Adriana (in a winning printed top) came out ahead.
She found the second Daily Double, winning $4,000 and a bigger lead – and then things hit a snag for Brian.
‘IN 1812…’
Brian found the last Daily Double on “WHITE HOUSE WEDDINGS” for $1,600 and chose to bet $6,000, or nearly the entire third-place score, to enter the game.
The clue read: “The first ceremony was in 1812, when Lucy Payne Washington, sister of this First Lady, married Supreme Court Justice Thomas Todd.”
Instantly latching onto the “Washington” part of the clue, he responded quickly and confidently: “Martha Washington!”
“No, I’m sorry,” Ken, 49, said bluntly, as Brian walked up to the podium with a distraught expression and walked away with $100.
The host pointed out how his response didn’t track the date and how he ignored the date, implying he didn’t read the entire clue.
Ken explained: “In 1812, it would have been Dolley Madison.”
Brian was a good sport and selected the next lane, although he didn’t have time to recover.
On Final Jeopardy, he was in the red, so he was removed from the stage while Adriana was leading with $16,200 and Abby had $12,400.
The two-person “HISTORIC GEOGRAPHY” clue read: “This city attracted thousands of visitors even before a new shrine to a murder victim was dedicated there on July 7, 1220.”
Both players hit with “Canterbury”, and Adriana added a surefire $10,000 to become the new champion, looking very happy.
‘THAT HURTS’
Fans took to social media, also very happy for Adriana, but many felt sorry for Brian, who fell into the Daily Double trap, as Ken was keen to point out.
“Strong showing from Adriana,” wrote one Redditor.
“I felt bad for Brian – including his fiancée’s name (Lucy Payne Washington) in the track was something brutal To deny.
“Unless you already knew this curiosity, you would have to ignore it and refocus on the year 1812.”
Another wrote: “Yes the year was a revelation, it couldn’t be Martha. Madison was president at the start of the War of 1812.
“Brian stated this so quickly and confidently that if he had taken a moment to consider the date, he might have changed his mind.”
A third wrote: “The Washington part may have been a small red herring, but Payne was a useful clue that pointed to Dolley’s maiden name.”
A fourth agreed: “Oh man that Miss DD3 hurt. I was sure he would make it, and the miss seemed to take all the wind out of his sails. Is very bad; I think Brian played better than his negative score would indicate.”
One more speculated: ‘Did Brian mishear the date on the track?’
Others weren’t offended by Ken’s reaction to the difficult mistake: “Is it wrong that I really like Ken over Alex now? The humor and side comments that Ken brings are more entertaining and feel more disarming. To respond.”
Adrianna will face two new challengers tomorrow night to see if she can turn her big first win into a run.
‘FUN TEST ON THE INTERNET’
Adriana is a clinical assistant professor and archivist of University History at Purdue University Archives and Special Collections.
She said in a recent interview that she auditioned for the show online for fun and was surprised to be contacted a few weeks later.
“I had taken the test online a few times before, but this time I went online one night and took the test for fun.”
“I didn’t expect anything to happen – I just thought of it as another fun Internet test.”
KEN GETS RISKY
Meanwhile, Ken was particularly angry with one contestant during Grant DeYoung’s sequence earlier this month.
Going into Final Jeopardy during what would be his third win, Grant led with $19,800 while challenger Nick had $10,400.
The decisive clue in “Book and Film Title References” read: “The title of this 2001 book, also a 2003 film, formed a partial boundary between Boston, Chelsea, Medford, and Everett.”
Nick revealed that he had written: “What is it: The Turnpike?”
A quick Google search would show that there appears to be no known book with that title.
Former 74-time champion Ken seemed to be aware of this when governing.
The host told him bluntly, “That’s not right, Nick.”
Nick hung his head and didn’t look at the host when his score dropped to $999.
Danger! Universe
Danger! it first aired in 1964 until 1975. Then, the nighttime version began in 1974. Since then, many spinoffs of the game show have emerged. Here they are all:
Danger! – (syndicated) 1974 to present, weekdays on ABC at 7pm ET.
Tournament of Champions – 1984 to present, features the top champions who have appeared on the show since the last tournament.
Second Chance Tournament – 2022 to Present features hand-selected non-winners from the previous season, where the prize is entry into the Champions Wildcard.
Champions Wildcard – 2023 to present, features all one-, two-, and three-day champions from the previous season that are eligible for entry into the Tournament of Champions.
Danger! Invitational Tournament (distribution) – from 2023 to the present, features big names from the past invited by producers to compete for a place in the Masters.
Danger! Masters (primetime) – from 2023 to present, features the six Jeopardy! champions competing against each other.
Celebrity Danger! (Primetime) – From 1992 to the present, celebrities compete against each other to raise money for charity.
Pop Culture Jeopardy (streaming) – from 2024 to present, will feature teams of three in charge of pop culture trivia on Amazon Prime, host and air date to be determined
Danger! eliminated specialized tournaments, such as University Tournaments, Children’s Week and Teacher’s Tournament, to move towards a more sporting model, with the Masters being the top of the Jeopardy pyramid.
Other versions of Jeopardy! have also failed over the years, such as Sports Jeopardy!.
Grant was right with “Mystic River,” winning the third of four starts and earning $81,203.
Danger! airs at 7pm ET on ABC – check your local listings.
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This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
