‘Jeopardy!’: Stunning Result as Champ Andrew Hayes Goes for 7th Win

Spoiler Alert

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[The following post contains MAJOR spoilers for the Thursday, April 17, episode of Jeopardy!]

Andrew Hayes returned to the Jeopardy! stage for the seventh time after accumulating a six-day total of $137,804. He answered 33 questions correct during his sixth game and qualified for an upcoming Tournament of Champions. Find out if the current champion wins his seventh game or if someone defeats him.

Hayes, from, Tupelo, Mississippi faced off against Steven Hoying, from Hilliard, Ohio, and Michelle Dolinski, from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Thursday’s (April 17) episode. The game started off as a tight race between Andrew Hayes, a law student, and Hoying, an attorney-at-law.

Hoying found the Daily Double right before the first commercial break. The question was, “An 11th point is won in a table tennis video game with the best graphics Atari could imagine in 1972.” “What is Pong?” he answered correctly, giving himself $6,000 on a true Daily Double. This made the game show contestant $2,000 ahead of Hayes with $6,000 in his bank. Hayes had $4,000, and Dolinski, a physics professor, had $600.

By the end of the round, there were three Triple Stumpers and only one incorrect answer, which was from Hayes. The question was “I say! The side has scored 24 wicket points & staked out both balls! Well done, side!” “What is cricket?” Hayes answered, incorrectly. Hoying swept in and correctly answered “croquet.”

Both Hayes and Hoying answered 11 questions correctly, but Hoying was still in the lead due to his correct DD. He had $8,200. Hayes’ total was $6,000. Dolinski trailed with $2,600, with five correct answers.

In Double Jeopardy, Hoying had a runaway win after finding both DDs and presenting 23 correct responses, with only two incorrect. He found the first DD on question 17. The clue in the category “The Vice President Who,” read, “- had Seattle’s county named after him, though it was later renamed (with the same name) for a civil rights leader.” Hoying answered, “Who is (William Rufus DeVane) King?”

“Yes! County now named for Martin Luther King,” host Ken Jennings said. Hoying added $6,000 to his total, giving him $12,600 vs $9,600 for Andrew Hayes.

Two questions later, Hoying found the second DD. “This system of weight used for gold is named for a city in medieval France, not ancient Turkey,” the clue read. He correctly answered, “Troy.” Hoying wagered $5,000, giving him $20,600.

Hayes fell behind when he answered four questions wrong, and only 15 questions right. Dolinski only answered 14 right, but none wrong. There were five Triple Stumpers in the round.

Hoying led with $29,200. Dolinski was in second with $13,400. The reigning champion, Hayes, was in third with $8,800. He’d need a miracle to win in Final Jeopardy.

In “Fictional Characters,” the final question read, “This character’s efforts in Africa to end an epidemic killing monkeys inspired Jane Goodall to do something similar.” Dolinski did not write anything. She wagered $5,000, ending with $8,400. This made Hayes currently in second place. Both Hayes and Hoying answered, “Who is Doctor Dolittle?” which was correct. Hayes ended with a total of $13,410, after wagering $4,610. Hoying added $203 to his total, giving him $29,403, making him the night’s champion.

Andrew Hayes ended with a seven-day total of $151,214. After his incredible run, he had 153 answers right and only 20 wrong. Hayes found 12 of the 21 Daily Doubles and has a total coryat of 17,514. A Coryat score is “a player’s score if all wagering is disregarded,” according to j-archive. It was invented by Karl Coryat before his 1996 game.

Hoying will be back on Friday, April 18, for his second game against two new opponents.