ADRIANA Harmeyer scored an impressive 14th win on Jeopardy! on Monday, leaving fans spellbound and speculating what it would take for her to finally lose.
Once again, an opponent put up a fierce fight only to falter with a Final Jeopardy! bets failed, which destroyed his chances of winning.
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Ken Jennings started the match by praising Adriana’s long streak, noting that only ten players “in the history of the show” had longer streaks.
Despite her track record, Adriana faced her worst moment in the previous episode, making it to Final Jeopardy!, which Ken suggested could be a “sign of vulnerability.”
With that, the archivist from West Lafayette, Indiana, faced off against Ty Patton and Kelsey Kaunisviita Vockrodt.
In danger! round, Ty won the first Daily Double immediately, while Adriana came out on top after crushing the Bon Jovi category.
She finished the round with $7,000, Ty with $2,800 and Kelsey with -$600.
On Double Jeopardy!, Adriana won $3,000 in the second Daily Double for “Marathon Man,” and new dad Ty made things interesting by finding the last Daily Double.
In a game-changing move, Ty nearly doubled his score from a distant second place to $10,100 by correctly responding with “NFL Players Association.”
This resulted in a “much closer game,” as Ken noted, going into Final Jeopardy! with Adriana leading with $16,200, Ty with $13,400 and Kelsey with $2,200.
The last danger! the category was “2 SURNAMES, SAME FIRST LETTER”, with the clue: “Born 344 years apart, they are the two real people mentioned by name in the titles of the 1990s Best Picture Oscar winners.”
Kelsey was incorrect, only getting the “Schindler” part right, and bet $0.
Ty answered correctly with “Shakespeare and Schindler” and bet $13,399 (all but $1), bringing his total to $26,799 and taking the lead.
With the pressure, Adriana also got it right and added $10,800 to win with $27,000.
“That’s just enough!” Ken declared as Adriana smiled at her incredible total of $326,000 in 14 days.
‘GIVE UP ANY CHANCE OF WINNING’
Fans took to social media, praising Adriana for her 14th consecutive win – quite a feat – while pointing out Ty’s final botched gamble.
Just like Friday’s favorite, Ty’s no-hedge bet wasn’t the best strategy, as it was so big that he “gave up any chance of winning” if he was wrong, even if Adriana was also wrong.
“Ty fought hard. Congratulations to him! And of course, congratulations to Adriana for keeping her streak alive,” one Redditor posted.
Another wrote: “The player in second place made a big bet and gave up any chance of winning if he got FJ wrong.”
Ty acknowledged this, writing on the game’s Reddit thread: “Oh… and my FJ bet… I know. I knew it while I was doing it. I have about 1,000 words typed up about what I was thinking, if anyone is interested. I wrote it on day I recorded it because I knew the future would not be satisfied.”
A third fan replied: “So close! You almost beat Adriana. Good game.”
Others speculated about what it would take for Adriana to lose at this point.
“At this rate, it’s going to take a really good challenger and an absolute killer of an FJ track to eliminate Adriana.”
Another wrote: “I still maintain my opinion that it will take two really good challengers at their best or she will fall into a very easy FJ track for her to fall into.”
One more commented: “Adriana’s refusal to hunt DDs will be what knocks her unconscious.
“She had this game very close to her chest until Ty won $5,000 in DD3. It ended up much closer than it should have been. If someone had found DD2, the game might have ended differently.”
The unflappable Adriana will seek her 15th victory in Tuesday’s episode, leaving more and more powerful players in the dust.
PLAYING OLD SCHOOL
Adriana has been on the rise since May 31, 2024 and is now the first Super Champion of Season 40.
Fans are going crazy as it has been almost two years since there was a 10+ day winner, the previous being 13 day champion Ray LaLonde in January 2023.
Adriana’s 14th win means she defeated Ray and now has the longest streak since 21-day champion Cris Pannullo in the fall of 2022.
However, Adriana doesn’t play anything like Cris, who scored 48-49 in Daily Doubles.
Adriana has a traditional strategy that sets her apart from all other Streakers in the post-Holzhauer era.
She is a rare, top-down player who refuses to hunt for Daily Doubles.
Instead, she has only found 14 of the 39 clues hidden in her sequence and doesn’t jump around the board to find them.
This allows the other contestants to find the Daily Doubles and fall on their swords, missing them with big bets.
She relies on pure knowledge, getting an astonishing 305 correct and 33 incorrect on the overall clues and 14/11 on Final Jeopardy.
“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 recently 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!”
About internal risk! podcast, the team also talked about Adriana’s refreshing and traditional style.
“Yes, we haven’t had anyone who plays so straight yet. I know Alex [Trebek] I would have loved a player like Adriana.”
The other qualifiers for the upcoming Tournament of Champions (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 participate as well.
LIFE MADE FOR DANGER!
Adriana works as an archivist at Purdue University in Indiana, where she preserves historical materials and teaches.
She is married to her husband Neal, whom she got into a relationship with in 2013 over their love of learning. He was in the audience during her race and they share a son.
His Q&A stories shed light on his Jeopardy! journey, in which she shared how intensely she has prepared for this moment her entire life.
She honed her skills on a 1990s CD-ROM version of Jeopardy! starting when she was seven. She only stopped playing after the record broke in half.
She also read an entire collection of the “gently used” World Encyclopedia as a child.
She recalled her “disappointing” failure to be selected as a Teen Week contestant, although the wait is certainly paying off.
She also credited her late grandmother, whose necklace she wears, with getting her on Jeopardy! while watching religiously.
During her 12th win, she shared that her money-making dream is to become a librarian, which made Ken laugh because it’s so… Dangerous.
‘WRONG’ ABOUT STEREOTYPE
In a new interview on Monday, the West Virginia native criticized the stereotype surrounding her home state and revealed why she doesn’t like watching the show.
Adriana spoke with The Parthenon about Appalachian stereotypes surrounding education and the skills she faces.
“They’re wrong, like, they’re completely wrong. Personally, I don’t see any reason to let things stop me,” she said.
“There are great people everywhere and I hope more people try to do things that interest them.”
“I didn’t realize until it started airing how many people would be rooting for me,” she said.
“The response I received was much stronger and more positive than I ever imagined.”
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
