Returning champion Scott Riccardi was given a run for his money on Jeopardy! as he found himself fending off a strong challenger in a heated battle for the top spot in an episode marked with big bets and Daily Double drama.
Before the game even began, host Ken Jennings noted that Riccardi, who once celebrated his birthday with a Jeopardy!-themed party, probably never imagined he would be marking future birthdays as a multi-day champion. Riccardi entered the game with three-day winnings totaling $96,001, as he faced off against two new challengers: Elise Canup, an advertising producer from Richmond, Virginia, and Dan Puma, a salesperson from Chicago, Illinois.
The trio jumped right in, swiftly working through the first round and splitting the board between them. By the time Canup uncovered the first Daily Double in the category “Hot Time in the Old Town” for $400, nearly two-thirds of the board had already been cleared.
Canup had $1,800 on the board and was sitting in third place behind Riccardi’s $5,200 and Puma’s $2,000, and chose to make it a true Daily Double by wagering it all. The clue: “This city’s history museum displays a nearly seven-ton metal blob of nails and other hardware melted in a store basement in 1871.” Canup correctly responded, “What is Chicago?” in reference to the Great Chicago Fire. With that, she doubled her total to $3,600 and moved into second place.
The trio moved quickly through the board, missing only a few clues as they tore through the categories with minimal errors. One of the rare stumpers came from the category “Those Are the Lyrics,” with the clue: Hozier‘s “Too Sweet” says, “You treat your mouth as if it’s Heaven’s gate / The rest of you like you’re…” this three-letter agency. After a brief silence and the dreaded three-note time’s up jingle, Jennings revealed the answer: “The rest of you like you’re the TSA.”
As the group moved into Double Jeopardy!, returning champion Riccardi entered the round in first place with $7,600 while Canup nabbed the second place spot with $4,200 and Puma came in third with $3,400.
Puma kicked off the new round and, with his first selection in the category “State Oddity” for $1,600, uncovered the board’s first Daily Double. Hoping to close the gap and move into second place, he bet it all, making it a true Daily Double, the second of the episode. Given the clue, “Most of Arizona used this 20th century innovation from 1918 to 1968, but scorns it now,” Puma correctly responded, “What is daylight saving time?” With that, he moved to $6,800, just $800 behind Riccardi.
Unfortunately, Puma’s lead was short-lived after he missed a $600 clue in the “Marx” category: “Karl Marx was heavily influenced by this German philosopher and his concept of the dialectic.” Puma incorrectly responded with “Kant,” opening the door for Riccardi, who correctly answered “Hegel,” bringing his total to $9,000.
However, Puma got a second chance at redemption when he found the second Daily Double hiding under “The Spot” for $1,200. With $8,400 on the board and just $800 off the lead, Puma bet $3,000 on the answer: “Back in 1878, American astronomer Carr Pritchett noted the color of this storm, the largest in our solar system.” Puma quickly answered, “What is the Great, Red Spot?” referring to the persistent, high-pressure anticyclonic storm on Jupiter. With that question, Puma’s new total was $11,400 as he moved into the top spot ahead of Riccardi.
The game intensified as Riccardi and Puma traded control of the board, with the returning champion working to regain his lead. He seized the opportunity in the category “State Oddities,” when Puma responded incorrectly to the clue: “Not a Western state, but New York has the largest publicly protected area in the Lower 48, the park named for these mountains.” Puma guessed “Catskills,” allowing Riccardi to respond with the correct answer, “The Adirondacks.” That put Riccardi back in the lead with $12,800 to Puma’s $11,400.
At the end of Double Jeopardy!, Riccardi held a comfortable $5,000 lead with a total of $23,200. Puma was in second place with $18,200 and still had a shot at the win, while Canup trailed in third with $2,200.
The Final Jeopardy! category was “1950s Literature,” with the clue: “At the start of this tale, the title character is reminded he went turtling off the Mosquito Coast.” Canup went first with her response, Ernest Hemingway‘s The Old Man and the Sea, which was correct. She wagered $2,000, bringing her total to $4,200.
Puma was also well-versed in his modern American classics and correctly guessed the Hemingway story, wagering $5,001 to bring his total to $23,201, just one dollar ahead of Riccardi.
But his lead was fleeting, as Riccardi also answered correctly. While he only needed to wager a single dollar to win, he went big, betting $13,201. That brought his total for the day to $36,401 and secured his fourth consecutive win, raising his overall earnings to a seriously impressive $132,402.
“Well done! That’s a great total,” Jennings congratulated.
Over on the Jeopardy! subreddit, fans were rooting for Puma as his impressive debut made an impression on viewers. “He was thrown into the deep end in his first game, too. Hopefully, he learned the lessons you’ve been forced to learn, that when you’re up against your toughest competition, they’ve beaten everyone they’ve come up against before you and you’ve been struggling to keep up, you do have to take that risk on the Daily Doubles. Had he gone in for the true Daily Double on the third Daily Double, he’d likely have won this game!,” said one Redditor.