TODAY’S Jeopardy! episode didn’t air in many parts of the country and viewers are furious they were unable to see breakout star Drew Goins snag his latest runaway win.
Those who tuned in on Monday expecting to see Ken Jennings on the Alex Trebek stage were met with a much different picture as most markets were still airing coverage of the Presidential Inauguration.
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Jeopardy! did not issue any warning that it may not be airing the January 20th game due to the inauguration – leading many to believe the episode would proceed as normal.
However, footage from Donald Trump’s inauguration continued to play in place of today’s game in most parts of the country.
The outrage over missing the episode was only increased when fan-favorite Drew delivered another impressive performance that some viewers won’t get to see.
One viewer wrote: “Can’t watch on my local ABC affiliate due to the inauguration, which really sucks, cause Drew is my fav. 🙁
“I was already bummed about today for obvious reasons but now it feels personal.”
“Here in Chicago we are preempted by the inauguration coverage. Talking heads keeping us from having 30 minutes of freedom from political craziness,” another said.
A third suggested: “Same. Total bummer. I really wish on national news pre-emption days that the Jeopardy Youtube channel would put up entire episodes.”
Drew, a journalist from Honolulu, Hawaii, has become a fan-favorite for his quick-witted game play, entertaining stories and fun fashion.
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For today’s Champions Wildcard semifinals, he went up against Joey DeSena, a development engineer from Raleigh, North Carolina and Jen Feldman, a high school teacher from Brooklyn, New York.
Like his past games, Drew was off to the best start as he secured the most amount of correct answers, six, by the first break.
He had accumulated $4,200 by the commercial break, while Jen had $1,400.
Joey found and missed the first Daily Double – landing him with $0 by the break.
After the Jeopardy! Round was complete, Drew’s lead increased to $7,200.
Though Joey remained in third, he got himself on the board with $800 while Jen stayed in second with $2,400.
Host Ken, 50, then revealed the categories of the second round: “French Geography; 18Th Century Writing; Broadway; Psychology; Let’s Talk About Politics; Starts With ‘D.’”
Jen closed the gap of Drew’s lead when she found the second Daily Double – and accurately answered, adding $5,000 to her score.
WHIZ KID
However, Drew quickly made that up by finding the third Daily Double which gave him a bonus $4,000.
Overall, Drew racked up an impressive 29 correct responses from today’s game – having only buzzed into two incorrectly.
Jen had 10 accurate answers with 0 mistakes while Joey made 3 incorrect guesses but had 12 right responses.
Jeopardy! Universe
Jeopardy! first aired in 1964 until 1975. Then the nighttime version began in 1974. Since then, many spinoffs of the game show have emerged. Here they all are:
Jeopardy! – (syndicated) 1974 to present, weekdays on ABC at 7 pm ET.
Tournament of Champions – 1984 to present, features the top champions who have appeared on the show since the last tournament.
Second Chance Tournament – 2022 to present features hand-selected non-winners from the season prior, where the prize is entry into Champions Wildcard.
Champions Wildcard – 2023 to present, features all one, two and three-day champions from the season prior worth entry into the Tournament of Champions.
Jeopardy! Invitational Tournament (syndication) – 2023 to present, features past greats invited by producers to vie for a slot in Masters.
Jeopardy! Masters (primetime) – 2023 to present, features the six highest-ranked Jeopardy! champions competing against each other.
Celebrity Jeopardy! (primetime) – 1992 to present, has celebrities compete against each other to raise money for charity.
Pop Culture Jeopardy (streaming) – 2024 to present, will feature teams of three tasked with pop culture trivia on Amazon Prime, hosted by Colin Jost, airdate TBD
Jeopardy! has done away with specialized tournaments like its College Tournaments, Kids Week, and Professor’s Tournament to gear towards a more sports-like model, with Masters being the top of the Jeopardy pyramid.
Other versions of Jeopardy! have fizzled out throughout the years as well, like Sports Jeopardy!.
Going into the final, Drew had $26,800 while Jen had $12,600 and Joey was close behind, having accumulated $9,200.
Only Joey was correct with the Final Jeopardy! and knowing he was too far behind to snag a win, used his opportunity to write a message for his opponent.
“What is the Nautalis? Go for it, Drew!!” Joey exclaimed in his answer.
The affection was mutual, as Drew – who bet $0 for the last round – wrote: “What is a mouse??? Thanks Jen and Joey! <3.”
For their final scores, Drew garnered $26,800 while Jen had $10,000 and Joey a solid $9,811.
Drew advances to the finals of the Champions Wildcard Tournament and is hoping to score a spot in the coveted Tournament of Champions.
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