“HE TOOK DOWN THE 31-GAME TITAN… THEN ALMOST GOT THROWN OFF THE THRONE A DAY LATER.” Greg Shahade arrived as Jeopardy!’s new destroyer — but within 24 hours, the giant-slayer looked dangerously close to becoming the next casualty. After shocking the world by ending Jamie Ding’s reign, many expected another masterclass. Instead, the next game turned into a nerve-shredding survival fight. Misses, hesitation, risky guesses… and even Greg hinted a little luck may have saved him at crucial moments. A near-disaster on key clues, shaky escapes, and rivals breathing down his neck turned what looked like a coronation into a battle for survival. For stretches, it felt like the man who crushed a super champion might be swept away himself. And that’s what has fans stunned — the new king didn’t dominate… he escaped.
‘Jeopardy!’ Giant-Slayer Greg Shahade Has Tough Time After Beating Jamie Ding
Spoiler Alert
Did giant-slayer Greg Shahade meet his match, or did he serve a checkmate to his Jeopardy! opponents? Shahade beat 31-game champion Jamie Ding on April 27. Now, he had a tough time during his second game.
Shahade, from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, went into his second game with a total of $33,000. On April 28, the chess master faced off against Chris Argento, from Bayonne, New Jersey, and Alice Jiang, from Redwood City, California. Warning: Spoilers for the April 27 episode of Jeopardy! ahead.
“Yesterday, our champion, Greg Shahade, added ‘Jeopardy! giant-killer’ to his game-playing resume, as it was checkmate for 31-game champion, Jamie Ding,” host Ken Jennings said. “Greg found, and responded correctly to all three Daily Doubles yesterday, adding $16,800 to his score on those three clues alone, and that catapulted him to a runaway win.”
“Jamie had certainly seemed unstoppable for weeks, but it just goes to show, anything can happen on the Alex Trebek stage,” he said.
Shahade had the lead of $2,200 when he found the Daily Double on clue 12, where he wagered all of his money. The clue in “Repetitive Stress” was “Anaphora is the repetition of the start of a clause ending in different ways, like these 4 words in an Aug. 28, 1963 speech in D.C.”
The game show contestant shrugged and guessed “What is I Have a Dream?” and he was right. This gave him $4,400.
By the end of the round, Shahade’s opponents didn’t leave him with a runaway. He had $7,600. Argento, a high school teacher, was in second place with $3,600. Jiang, a student, had $2,800.
Shahade found the first Daily Double in Double Jeopardy on clue two. With $8,200 in his bank, he wagered $6,000.
The clue in “O Captain, My Captain” was, “A national hero as an Austrian sub captain during WWI, he’d later gain more fame after marrying a woman named Maria.” Shahade stared at the clue and shrugged.
The correct response was Georg von Trapp, the real-life captain from The Sound of Music. Shahade dropped to third place with $2,200.
He found the last DD on clue five. Shahade had $4,200 and wagered all of it. In “Business History,” the clue read, “This co. was born in 1911, after 4 years of talks among the Intl. Time Recording Co., Computing Scale Co. & Tabulating Machine Co.”
“What?” he asked when looking at the clue. “What’s IBM?” he guessed. Shahade was right and doubled up to $8,400, retaking the lead.
But Argento didn’t let Shahade have a runaway. When he had over $10,000, Argento had $9,600.
By the end of the round, Shahade had the lead with $12,400. Argento was not too far behind with $10,800. Jiang was in third place with $6,000.
“Playwrights” was the Final Jeopardy category. The clue was “When she was 7, her family moved to the mostly white Chicago neighborhood of Woodlawn, leading to attacks & a Supreme Court case.” All three contestants correctly responded with Lorraine Hansbury, so it all came down to wagers.
Jiang wagered $3,200, giving her a final total of $9,200. Argento’s wager was $1,601, making his total $12,401. Shahade made a big wager of $9,201, giving him a total of $21,601.
Shahade won his second game and has a two-day total of $54,601. He will return on April 29.
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