‘Jeopardy!’: Adriana Harmeyer Speaks Out After TOC Finals Drama

Spoiler Alert

Jeopardy!, Inc.
Jeopardy!, Inc.

[Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for the February 10 episode of Jeopardy!]

Adriana Harmeyer, Isaac Hirsch, and Neilesh Vinjamuri faced off in game two of Jeopardy!‘s Tournament of Champions on Monday, February 10, with Harmeyer holding a lead over her rivals after winning game one.

Harmeyer soon found herself up against it, however, as Vinjamuri dominated the game and quickly took the lead in round one with $7,000. Hirsch was in second with $4,800 and Harmeyer trailed with $4,400.

During Double Jeopardy! Harmeyer made her way to second place quickly but fell back to last place after a daring $5,000 wager during the Daily Double. The question read, “Timeless Tevye tune that mentions Superman’s nickname & his favorite type of abrasive scouring pad.”

Harmeyer hesitated before answering, “What is Fiddler Man of Steel Wool?” Host Ken Jennings told her that the first part of her answer was incorrect, revealing “If I were a rich man of steel” to be correct. This brought her down to $1,000, giving her other two opponents a sizeable lead.

Also in Double Jeopardy!, Vinjamuri correctly answered his Daily Double, earning him 29,200, after wagering all of his money. By the end of the round, Vinjamuri led with$31,600, Hirsch remained in second with $18,800, and Harmeyer was struggling on $5,400.

Both Vinjamuri and Hirsch answered the Final Jeopardy! question correct. Harmeyer wagered $0 for the final question, ending with $5,400. Hirsch answered with “Who is Pyrrhis?” and waged $18,600, making his final total $37,400. Vinjamuri also answered Pyrrhus and added $6,001 to his total, ending the game with $37,601, making him the night’s winner.

This brings the total to Harmeyer and Vinjamuri with one win and Hirsch with zero wins.

After the game, Harmeyer commented on a Jeopardy! fan Reddit board and explained why she got her Daily Double and Final Jeopardy! questions wrong.

“Sometimes it’s just not your game. Congratulations to Neilesh on a hard fought victory!” she wrote.

“Literally the last movie I added to my study/watch list but didn’t get to before filming was Fiddler on the Roof. I know the song, just went completely blank on the title. I removed the movie from my watch list after this.”

“I also just went blank on Pyrrhus,” Harmeyer explained of Final Jeopardy!. “My thought process was something like this: ‘It’s not Hannibal, he’s not even Greek. Who’s Greek? Why can’t I think of any Greek generals? Times almost up, guess I’ll write Hannibal.’”

“I was so tired at that point that it seemed possible that I could’ve been remembering wrong, and I can’t bring myself to not guess something,” she ended.

All three contestants will rematch again on Tuesday, February 11. The first player to score three wins is the champion.

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