DANGER! star Adriana Harmeyer continued on Monday with an astonishing ninth win, $204,700 total and a place in the record books.
Josh Fry – who Ken Jennings even dubbed his toughest opponent – pulled off an inexplicable Daily Double move with a surprise victory in sight.
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The archivist from West Lafayette, Indiana, already boasting the longest winning streak all season, came back for more.
No one had achieved a nine-day winning streak since 2024 ToC finalist Ben Chan last May, so everyone was excited.
She faced off against software developer Josh and video production professor Aaron Lemos.
In danger! round, Adriana had another hot start, winning a category to applause.
She finished with $3,000, Aaron with $1,600 and Josh (having lost the first Daily Double) with $1,600.
In double jeopardy! things got shaky with several triple stumbles.
Adriana found the second Daily Double, which added $1,500 to her lead, while Josh suddenly gained momentum and found the last one.
But he surprised fans by inexplicably making a small daily double bet of $1,500 of his $7,200.
“Only 1,500,” Ken shadowed, and hit the track like “incisors.”
A bigger bet would have given him the lead, but instead he reached the final in second place with $10,700, Adriana $12,100 to Adriana and Aaron $1,600.
This was difficult as he actually outperformed her, with 20 correct answers and 3 incorrect answers, while Adriana got 17 and 6 correct.
Even Ken pointed out that he was her fiercest enemy before the final clue, saying that he gave her “As much racing as anyone gave Adriana in as many days.”
Final Danger! in “NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEWS” it said: “In 1958, a review of this book now considered a classic called it repulsive, disgusting and ‘intellectual pornography’.”
Only Adriana was correct with “Lolita,” adding $9,500 to “survive like a scare,” as Ken put it, and win another $21,600 for a whopping nine-day total.
‘WHAT HAPPENED JOSH!?’
Fans flooded social media, bowing down to Adriana, but they had no idea about Josh’s DD3 bet, which cost him to lead a major champion in the final round.
“Congratulations Adriana! She will be the 21st player to try for her tenth victory,” said a Redditor in a game thread.
“Solid game. (What happened on that DD3 bet? Did you hate the category?)” asked another.
Josh chimed in to explain his Daily Double 3 bet; It was a once-bitten, twice-shy decision after “sniffing” the first one.
“I wasn’t super confident, no (especially after missing the first one), and I was more worried about letting the game get out of hand than taking the lead,” he wrote.
Others pointed out that it didn’t matter: “He didn’t know FJ. Still, good performance from him and I hope for a few more like him.”
Another agreed: “I would definitely root for you! Presenting a performance like yours against a 9-day champion (and for how long to be determined) is always impressive.”
Adriana now has the third-longest female winning streak in history, behind Amy Schneider (40 wins) and Julia Collins (20 wins).
She is also behind Mattea Roach (23 wins), who is now non-binary and uses they/them pronouns.
Adriana will look for her tenth victory tomorrow night, becoming a super champion, of which there have only been 17.
SLAY-DRIANA HARMEYER
Adriana is a clinical assistant professor and archivist of University History at Purdue University Archives and Special Collections.
She’s been going strong since arriving two weeks ago, and now boasts the longest streak and gains of season 40 – the fans are all in.
“Adriana is impressive, friendly and fun to watch. I’m predicting a 20-game streak. I expect even more. Go, Adriana!” one fan wrote recently.
“Adriana is killing it and I love her retro vibe, like she stepped off the set of the Mary Tyler Moore Show,” wrote another.
“Adriana is so cool I bet she doesn’t even care,” wrote a third.
‘SMILING STRATEGY’
Other fans highlighted that Adriana opted for a smart strategy, which is especially rare in the modern era.
She’s a traditional player who competes from top to bottom (what a relief!) and didn’t go on the daily double hunt à la James Holzhauer.
Instead, she found only nine of the 24 hidden clues, refusing to bounce around the board.
This allows other competitors to spot the Daily Doubles and fall on their swords when they miss them.
“Adriana is a sneaky, ice-cold player. She doesn’t hunt DD much and isn’t very aggressive with her bets, but on DJ’s end, she has an out-of-control game!” one fan wrote on Reddit.
“Just pure buzzer skill and huge knowledge base. I hope she continues her trend, I’d love to see how far she can take it!”
She relied solely on pure knowledge, getting 214 and 24 incorrect on the general clues.
His Q&A stories shed light on his Jeopardy! journey, including not being selected as a teen contestant.
She honed her skills on a 1990s CD-ROM version of Jeopardy! starting when she was seven. She only stopped playing after the disc broke in half.
She also talked about her husband Neal, who was in the audience during her recording, in a recent interview.
Danger! Host timeline
Danger! has had a tumultuous history regarding hosts following the death of the iconic Alex Trebek in 2020. Here are every host since the game show’s inception in 1964.
Art Fleming – from 1964 to 1975, he was the original host of the daytime version of Jeopardy! on NBC.
Alex Trebek – From 1984 to 2020, the late, great Alex hosted the modern iteration of Jeopardy! for 36 years until his death from pancreatic cancer.
Guest Hosts – 2020 to 2021, Jeopardy! tested a series of guest hosts for one- or two-week stints, including Anderson Cooper, LaVar Burton and Aaron Rodgers.
Mike Richards – 2021, he was named host for a week before resigning amid controversy. He was the show’s executive producer at the time.
Mayim Bialik – 2021 to 2023, when Mike was announced as the show’s new host, Mayim was chosen to host tournaments and primetime specials.
Mayim and Ken Jennings – 2022 to 2023, 74-time champion Ken (the winningest contestant of all time) joined Mayim as guest host and they shared hosting duties.
Ken Jennings – 2023 to present. Last December, Mayim announced on Instagram that she would “no longer” host Jeopardy! after a long hiatus, having defended the writers’ strike, and Ken was named sole host.
Ken now runs all editions of Jeopardy! including Celebrity Jeopardy!, the late night show and other primetime specials such as Masters.
Neal said he felt fortunate to be able to watch Adriana compete, especially because he knows the joy it brings her.
“If you think it’s tense watching at home, it’s a lot more tense watching in person when someone you love is competing,” he said. Diary and Mail.
“Adriana finds great joy in learning and being curious. I’ve seen her in her element while she’s doing trivia before, but this is the best—she’s completely happy.
“Watching her like this was an absolute privilege,” he added.
Adriana is currently the favorite for the next Tournament of Champions, which will be in 2025.
So far, the other qualifiers for the next ToC (all women) are five-day winners Alison Betts and Dr. Amy Hummel and Lisa Ann Walter from Celebrity Jeopardy!
That said, with four wins, Grant DeYoung and Amar Kakirde will likely enter the fray as well.
Season 40 of Danger! ends at the end of July for summer replays, but will continue with normal play when Season 41 begins in late August.
Danger! airs at 7pm ET on ABC – check your local listings.
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