A JEOPARDY! champion has lost his three-day winning streak in a particularly "brutal" way- missing the Final question after leading the entire game.
Jared Watson took to Reddit to admit he never found his Final Jeopardy category-proved-fatal “interesting to follow or study."
Jared is a quality control specialist from Greenville, Texas who came in with a three-day total of $56,202.
He was faring quite well against Suresh Krishnan, a networking engineer from Suwanee, Georgia, and Deborah Claymon, a writer from St. Helena, California.
Win four would have given Jared an essentially ensured ticket to the 2024 Tournament of Champions in September so a lot was on the line for him.
Jared controlled the board for most of the Jeopardy! round, despite missing a major Daily Double for $4000, looking bummed out.
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But he wasn't deterred and got around 14 clues correct of the 30 in the first round.
In Double Jeopardy!, Jared kept his game face on and got around 14 more and swept a "Books and Authors" category - however, he missed $3,000 more on the second Daily Double.
Suresh scored $2600 on the last remaining Daily Double, and even despite the two major misses, Jared was in the lead.
Going into Final Jeopardy he had $12,800, Suresh had $7,600, and Deborah $600.
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'SUCH A TOUGH WAY TO LOSE'
Final Jeopardy under "Historic Organizations" read: "A senator called the 1949 pact that formed this a 'fraternity of peace' that 'makes the obligation plain …for us & others.'"
First, host Mayim Bialik, 47, turned to Deborah was correct with "NATO (it was fun)".
Suresh was also correct with "NATO" wagering $3000, giving him $10600.
It was finally Jared's turn and he was incorrect having written down "United Nations".
He wagered $2401 and looked extremely disappointed, as he was left with a mere $201 less than Suresh.
The crowd went completely quiet as Suresh was declared the new champion, looking thrilled as his one-day total was displayed.
Reddit users were stunned as Jared had led all the way up until the last clue despite two big Daily Double misses.
"Brutal loss for Jared after leading the entire time," one person wrote.
"Two missed Daily Doubles and Jared was still leading...I'm very happy for Suresh, but it comes with a tough loss for the outgoing champ," wrote another.
'IT PROVED TO BE MY UNDOING'
Jared did not take the loss easy as it aired and wrote in the Reddit thread about the game: “This was always going to be a hard day."
"Congrats to Suresh, who did exactly what he needed to do to win. Long may he reign!"
Jared continued: "If you had to handpick a category that I would be least thrilled to see for Final, it would be something to do with politics or international organizations.
"I've just never found the subject interesting to follow or study, and it proved to be my undoing.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone at Jeopardy for making my dreams come true beyond anything I could have hoped."
And thank you to everyone who has supported me on this journey.
"The hardest part of leaving now is feeling like I let those rooting for me down by not going further. Dorkapotamus [a nickname he referred to himself as earlier on] out."
Suresh replied: Thanks a lot Jared! You were both an awesome player and an awesome person to hang out with in the green room.
That was a great run and a great game as well. Sorry about the Final Jeopardy category."
JARED'S JEOPARDY! JOURNEY
Jared is a married father-of-one and a semi-pro guitar player (he did a winning rendition of the Think music on YouTube). He shared on stage he is allergic to cats but “I have two anyway.”
Even he was rocked by his first win last Thursday, as he went into the last round in second place.
Jared buckled over his podium looking absolutely thrilled over the come-from-behind win being correct on Final Jeopardy and pulling ahead.
“Oh man!” he said, and Mayim replied: “Oh man is right!”
As the credits rolled Jared said to the host in a made-for-TV moment: "I can't words right now."
Jared wrote to Reddit at the time: "At no point in the game did I think I was actually going to win."
He then won Friday's game with a solid $24K.
'DEFINITELY A SOUR NOTE'
However, Jared made two rough guesses during his third win on yesterday's episode and he heard it from fans.
A clue read: "The Japanese Garden is a good place to get away from the bustle of the 12 million or so people living in the area of this city."
Jared was the first to quickly buzz in, and guessed: "What is Tokyo?"
Mayim gave a stern, "No" before calling on Annabelle, who gave the correct response, "What is Manilla?"
Fans online could hardly believe Jared botched the clue since the category was "The Phillipines."
"Dear Jared, Tokyo is not in the Philippines," one person mocked as another responded: "I know, right?
Then, Final Jeopardy featured the category "Acronyms," with the clue: "It was originally a code word used by telegraph operators; Barack Obama used it in his Twitter handle."
Both Annabelle and Harrison correctly guessed: "What is POTUS?" - which is short for President of the United States while Jared guessed: "STOP."
Once again, the internet let him have it for his POTUS faux pas.
"Not gonna lie, the Final Jeopardy! was pretty straightforward, but I was absolutely shocked that Jared was the only one to miss that Final," one person commented, before adding an optimistic: "I still have high hopes for him in his future games."
Once more on Reddit, Jared copped to the gaffes and wrote: "Total brain fart. "No excuse except to say that sometimes... it just happens."
He continued: "Ah yes, the venerable Filipino city of... Tokyo? I really can't explain what I was thinking there except to say that I clearly forgot the category. I can't wait to have the Internet throw that one back at me all day.
"With Final, it was definitely a case of me way overthinking it. I knew President Obama used POTUS in his Twitter handle, but the telegraph portion of the clue threw me off, because I had assumed that acronym to be much more recently created.
"Thankfully it did not cost me the game, but it was definitely a sour note."
Although Jared did not punch his ToC ticket the 2024 Ken-hosted tournament is expanding to 10 weeks with a new Champions Wildcard addition for three-day (and fewer) winners.
WHAT IS: THE JEOPARDY! HOST SCHEDULE
Ken Jennings recently wrapped the thrilling Jeopardy! Masters special, which was won by James Holzhauer, underdog Mattea Roach, 24, came in a close second.
Mayim, who is Ken's co-successor to Alex Trebek, is finishing out the regular season until the summer.
Ken won't be seen until the 2023 Tournament of Champions, which will kick off Season 40 in September, barring the last week of Season 39.
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Many Jeopardy! viewers who tuned in last week were not overly impressed with Mayim and her hosting style.
In particular, they noticed that the actress takes too long to respond to contestants when they give their responses.
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