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

Adriana Harmeyer on 'Jeopardy!'

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.”

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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.

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“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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