‘Jeopardy!’ Did ‘Community’ Star Erik Charles Nielsen Beat Reigning Champ Steven Olson?

Spoiler Alert

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[Warning: The following post contains MAJOR spoilers for the Thursday, September 25, episode of Jeopardy!]

Steven Olson returned for his fifth Jeopardy! game on Thursday, September 25, and tried to secure his spot in an upcoming Tournament of Champions. But was he beaten by Community star Erik Charles Nielsen?

Olson, from Princeton, Illinois, faced off against Nielsen, from Hollywood, California, and Vickie Talvola, from Jersey City, New Jersey, on Thursday. Olson came into the game with a four-day total of $74,382. Nielsen played Garrett Lambert on Community, among other roles. However, he didn’t mention his acting career on the game show and instead listed himself as a substitute teacher.

Olson answered the first clue for $800, taking the lead. The band director found the Daily Double on clue two. Olson wagered the allotted $1,000 in “Book Character Inspo.” The clue read, “The boar-shevik Snowball from Animal Farm was based on this man who got in 1940.” He answered correctly with “Who is Trotsky?”, making his total $1,800. He had a $3,000 lead by the first commercial break.

By the end of the round, all of the contestants had answered nine clues correctly, but Olson answered four wrong, and he dropped down to $2,800, a tie for second with Nielsen. Talvola, a quantitative trader, moved to first place with $4,200.

In Double Jeopardy, Nielsen took a lead in the beginning and found the first Daily Double on clue three. He had $5,600 and wagered $2,300 in “Word Origins.” The clue was “From Latin for ‘bad condition,’ it’s a 6-letter synonym for a disease or disorder.” Nielsen answered correctly with “What is a malady?”, improving to $7,900 for the lead.

Then it was a battle between Nielsen and Talvola until Talvola found the second DD on clue 11. She made it a true Daily Double with $9,400. In “Plant Facts,” the clue was “Also a make of car from Toyota, it’s the inner petals of a flower-taken collectively.” “What is a corolla?” Talvola answered correctly, doubling to $18,800 vs. Nielsen’s $11,500.

Olson tried to take back his lead by answering a lot of the clues from then on, but it wasn’t enough to win. By the end of the round, he had $6,400. Nielsen was in second with $12,700. Talvola was the winner with $26,400.

The category for Final Jeopardy was “U.S. Towns.” The clue read, “This Southern town known for big watermelons is the birthplace of the politicians who were governors of its state in 1983, 2003, and 2023.” Only one contestant got it right, which was Hope, Arkansas.

Olson answered with “What’s… Big Melon Town?” He wagered $6,399, leaving him with $1. Nielsen was close with Little Rock, Arkansas. He wagered $200, giving him a final total of $12,500. Talvola had the correct response and wagered $7. She ended the game with $26,407.

Talvola was the night’s winner, so neither Olson nor Nielsen came out victorious. Olson’s streak came to an end. Talvola will be back on Friday for game two.

“Glad we have our 1st queen on the throne, and yes, Steve’s run was the perfect length and he’ll be long cherished,” a Reddit user said.

“I was all in on Erik not winning from the moment he squandered his DD, but he played well and had a real shot at taking down a multi-day champ. Steven couldn’t know that this would be his last game (for now – see you in the tourneys),” said another.

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