The three legends of giving rapid-fire responses to clues were back at it on Thursday, January 9. It was Day 3 of Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time, a tournament featuring champions James Holzhauer, Ken Jennings, and Brad Rutter.
The trio is competing for a prize of $1 million based on whoever is the first to achieve three winning days. Based on Thursday’s Jeopardy! GOAT tournament results, there could be a winner coming on Friday night.
Game 1 recap
Going into Thursday night’s Day 3 of the tournament, James and Ken each had a victory. Brad still wasn’t on the board.
The day’s clues included the usual mix of difficult and less-difficult clues. One of those even got the attention of comedian Sarah Silverman.
I ask myself that every day pic.twitter.com/qZpxmM5aDb
— Sarah Silverman (@SarahKSilverman) January 10, 2020
At the end of Double Jeopardy! for Game 1 on Day 3, Ken led with 25,600 points, James was at 13,600 points, and Brad had 8,800.
For Final Jeopardy!, the category was U.S. Political History. The clue was, “These two now-defunct parties each gave the U.S. four presidents in the 19th century.”
The correction response was, “What are Democratic-Republican and Whig?”
Brad got it right and wagered everything. That doubled his score to 17,600. James was also correct and doubled his score to 27,200. However, Ken wasn’t to be outdone as he was correct and bet all 25,600 of his points to get to 51,200 for the first game. Those scores are added to their Game 2 scores to determine the day’s winner.
Game 2 recap
Ken held a decent lead of 17,600 points when Double Jeopardy! ended for Game 2. James had just 7,400 and Brad had a respectable 10,000.
The Final Jeopardy! category was 21st Century Oscar Winners. The clue was “These two foreign-born directs have each won two best director Oscars, but none of their films has won Best Picture.”
The correct response was, “Who are Ang Li and Alfonso Cuaron?”
James missed it, but made a joke on his written response about “Who is the GHOST” referring to “Greatest Host of Syndicated TV.” His response included Pat Sajak’s name crossed-out with Alex Trebek written after it. James had wagered 908 and dropped to 6,492 for Game 2.
There's only one GHOST. #JeopardyGOAT https://t.co/4v4HkNum0R
— Jeopardy! (@Jeopardy) January 10, 2020
Next up was Brad, who also made a joke on his response by writing “Ken Es El Hombre” and giving a nod to the Philadelphia Eagles’ Super Bowl LII win. Brad risked less than half of his 10,000 and ended up with 5,867 for Game 2.
It was on to the leader Ken Jennings. He actually made a real guess, but only got Li, despite spelling it incorrectly. He wagered very few points, dropping to 16,400 for Game 2.
Day 3 final scores: Ken won the day with 67,600 for his total. James finished with 33,692 and Brad had 23,467 for their two-game totals.
Congratulations to Ken Jennings for winning Night Three of #JeopardyGOAT! ? Don’t miss more of Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time Tuesday at 8|7c. pic.twitter.com/AtXeQ7KXJ8
— ABC (@ABCNetwork) January 10, 2020
So now Ken Jennings has won two matches, James Holzhauer has one win, and Brad Rutter is still searching for his first. Could Brad go on a three-day run starting Friday night? Will James even the score with Ken? Or will Ken walk away as Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time winner. Tune in to find out.
Watch Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time on Friday, January 10 on ABC starting at 8/7c.