DANGER! fans felt sorry for a contestant who ended up with a colossally low score on Tuesday night’s episode.
Tim Herd, a Ph.D. student from Detroit, Michigan, passed all negative rounds and finished with -2,400.
5
He faced Neilesh Vinjamuri, a software engineer from Loionsville, Pennsylvania – who would win his third game – and Lindsay Denninger, a writer from Smithtown, New York.
Fans supported Tim from the start to make a comeback as he made several swings and misses.
Unfortunately, Tim didn’t recover and only got one answer in the entire game.
His score was negative the entire time, making him ineligible for Final Jeopardy!.
Fans also cheered for Tim when he told a charming anecdote to host Ken Jennings during interviews.
Tim told Ken that he dances a lot to keep his spirits up while working the grueling hours required to complete a PhD.
He shared that he tries to spread “joy” through dancing while working so hard and even shared that he has a hashtag for his dance breaks.
“It’s an act of showing my joy and encouraging others to do the same,” Tim told Ken, who smiled and replied, “That’s great! I love this for you.
‘POOR TIM’
When Tim exploded, fans felt terrible and expressed sympathy for the difficult game on social media.
“I feel so bad for Tim. In the unlikely event that I make it, I feel like I would do the same,” one Redditor wrote.
“A tough day for Tim. He looked deeply uncomfortable throughout the game. Congratulations to Neilesh!” wrote another.
“Poor Tim! He looks panicked. But he has excellent handwriting,” wrote a third.
“I think Tim is terrified. All the knowledge in the world doesn’t matter if nerves are causing a mental breakdown,” wrote one X user.
“Congratulations to Tim for making it to the Alex Trebek stage. It really wasn’t his day, but getting on #Jeopardy is an achievement in itself,” wrote another.
“”Poor Tim just couldn’t get anything to work. He was run over by his opponents, who were like doorbell demons,” wrote a third.
“To Tim: at least you tried your best; I hope you had fun on the show. “#Jeopardy,” wrote a fourth.
“Tim is exactly what I would be like on #Jeopardy: Somewhere Negative,” joked a fifth.
LOW RECORD ON JEOPARDY?
Although Tim’s scores were low throughout the game, he didn’t put up the worst numbers in program history.
Although he finished the first round at -1,600, one Redditor pointed out that the record for that round was set in 1985 when a player scored -$3,800.
Tim’s final score of -$2,400 is also far from the record for lowest Jeopardy! score ever.
Patrick Pearce finished his 2021 game with -$7,400.
The second lowest score of all time came recently – in June, Erin Buker finished the game with -$7,200.
Celebrity Danger! player Becky Lynch also set a record as the first contestant to get zero correct answers out of 60 clues (she got two correct in the special Triple Jeopardy!) round.
Meanwhile, Neilesh won the game with $11,999 while Lindsay came second with $5,000.
However, fans also criticized Lindsay, who “could have won” if she hadn’t bet so much ($8,000) on Final Jeopardy.
NEW NEILISH CHAMPION
Neilsish is Tuesday night’s three-day champion with a total of $53,099.
Many fans were impressed with his strong play, with just a few days left before the game show goes on summer hiatus at the end of the week.
The defending champion has two of his three games so far on the run and Ken called his second victory “dominant” as he almost reached $30,000.
Some are predicting he’ll make it to the Tournament of Champions before the end of Season 40 – and could spend the summer as the defending champion a la Lucas Partridge (but hopefully not eight months).
“Neilesh’s depth and breadth of knowledge is impressive. Congratulations!” one social media user recently wrote.
“Loving watching Neilesh, now hope he gains confidence in himself in his future DD bets,” wrote another.
“I hope Neilesh wins at least by Thursday, making him at least a 5-day champion,” wrote a third.
“Neilesh looked nervous for a while during Friday’s episode before taking control of the game. Looks like the nerves are over and the rest of this week’s contestants may have had a tough time,” predicted a fourth.
“I know it’s just nerves, but he makes me dizzy,” joked another about the champion’s tendency to move back and forth on the podium.
Neilesh will be looking for his fourth win in Wednesday’s episode, which would likely qualify him for the next Tournament of Champions.
So far, the qualifiers are Isaac (9 wins), Drew Basile (7 wins), Adriana Harmeyer (15 wins), Alison Betts (5 wins) and Dr. Amy Hummel (5 wins), and Lisa from Celebrity Jeopardy! Ana Walter.
With four wins, Grant DeYoung and Amar Kakirde are also likely to participate.
The final episode of the 40th season of Jeopardy! will air on Friday, July 26th, with reruns starting on Monday, July 29th.
Season 41 will premiere on September 9, 2024 and run until July 25, 2025.
Danger! airs at 7pm ET – check your local listings.
5
5
This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
