[The following post contains MAJOR spoilers for the Friday, June 13, episode of Jeopardy!]
Steve Kornacki, national political correspondent for NBC News, isn’t the only Kornacki sibling appearing on TV. His sister, Kathryn, was one of the contestants on Jeopardy! on Friday, June 13. Read on to find out how Kathryn or “Katie” did. Did she take home a win or did three-day champion Matt Massie qualify for the Tournament of Champions by securing his fourth win?
The fourth game for a Jeopardy! contestant can determine their future on the game show. If they win game four, the contestant qualifies for an upcoming Tournament of Champions. If Massie won today, he’d join nine other people who have qualified this season.
Massie, from South Charlestown, West Virginia, had a three-day total of $79,800. The attorney almost lost his third game after making a risky wager during Final Jeopardy.
He returned for his fourth game and faced off against Kelly Cui, from Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Katie Kornacki, from Hartford, Connecticut, who was born and raised in New England, Massachusetts.
The game started pretty even, but Massie took a quick lead when he found the Daily Double right away. By the first commercial break, he had $4,800. Kornacki, an English professor at Caldwell University, had $2,600. Cui, a student, was not too far behind with $2,000.
During the interviews, Massie revealed what he plans to do with his winnings — do the NASCAR Racing Experience. Jeopardy! fans also learned that Kornacki is a mother to a four-year-old daughter, Anne. Cui learned to bake desserts as a child because her parents rarely used the oven.
By the end of the round, Massie had answered a slew of clues wrong to keep the game close. He had $6,400. Cui moved up to second with $4,600. Kornacki ended the first round with $4,200.
In Double Jeopardy, things took a turn for the reigning champion. He missed several bottom-row clues, including a Daily Double. Cui also got her DD wrong. They went back and forth with the lead, resulting in numerous ties.
However, at the end of the round, the judges reversed one of Kornacki’s incorrect responses to give her the lead of $1,200 going into the final question. She led with $10,600. Massie moved down to second with $9,400. Cui’s total was $5,200 before Final Jeopardy.
The category for Final Jeopardy was “Historic Names.” The clue read, “Some 200 years after her birth, she was awarded the rank of General in Maryland’s National Guard on Veterans Day 2024.” The correct answer was Harriet Tubman. Both Massie and Kornacki had the right response.
Cui answered, “Who is Clara Barton?” She wagered $5,199, ending with $1. Massie’s correct response brought him to $18,800 after he wagered all of his bank. However, Kornacki also wagered $9,400, and with the correct answer, her final total was $20,000.
This made her the night’s winner. She will be back on Monday, June 16, to face off against two new opponents. Massie did not qualify for ToC, but did walk away with almost $80,000.
Kornacki is on the board of the Margaret Fuller Society. She founded and is co-editor of the organization’s newsletter, Conversations. Katie and Steve were always encouraged by their parents to read, according to Caldwell’s website, and did the summer reading program at their local library.
Before teaching multiple literature courses at Caldwell, Kornacki taught English at Oakhill High School in Maine for three years. She worked at the Harriett Beecher Stowe Center as a tour guide and taught while getting her doctorate degree from the University of Connecticut.
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