‘Jeopardy!’ Fans React After ‘Easy’ Final Question: Did Champ Paolo Pasco Survive?

Spoiler Alert

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[Warning: The following post contains MAJOR spoilers for the Wednesday, September 17, episode of Jeopardy!]

Jeopardy! ended with an easy final question after a few days of only one — or none — of the contestants getting it right. Five-day champion Paolo Pasco played his sixth game. Did he win?

Pasco, from San Diego, California, played against Laura Mixter, from Chicago, Illinois, and Max Miller, from Astoria, New York, on Wednesday, September 17.  He tried to increase his five-day total of $134,516 by winning his sixth game.

Pasco, a puzzle writer, took an early lead when he correctly answered the first few clues. The rest were Triple Stumpers until Miller, a college counselor, buzzed in on clue seven. Pasco still led by the first commercial break.

Miller found the Daily Double on clue 21. He was only $1,000 away from first place with $3,800. Miller made it a true Daily Double in “Words For City Folk.” “A Weegie is a person from this city on the River Clyde” was the clue. He didn’t have an answer and dropped down to $0. The answer was “What is Glasgow?” The people there are called Glaswegians.

Pasco had $6,600 by the end of the round. Mixter, a director of impact management and measurement, had $2,200. After Miller’s DD fumble, he was in third with $400.

In Double Jeopardy, Miller found the DD on the third clue. He wagered the allotted $2,000. In “Unusual Words,” the clue was “The Latin for ‘cloud’ gives us this type of machine that gives asthma patients medicine in a liquid mist.” Miller correctly answered with “What is a nebulizer?” He moved up to second place with $2,400.

With only $400 separating her and Pasco, Mixter found the last DD. She wagered $2,000 out of her $10,600. In “The 1975…,” the clue read, “…success of Junko Tabei as the first woman to do this got her a medal from the king of Nepal.” Mixter answered right away with “What is climb Mt. Everest?” She moved to first place with $12,600.

It didn’t take long for Pasco to tie and eventually retake the lead. By the end of the round, he had $16,600. Mixter was in second with $13,800. Miller had $6,400.

The category for Final Jeopardy was “Novels.” The clue read, “In April 2025, the Empire State Building was lit up in green to celebrate the 100th anniversary of this novel’s publication.” The correct response was The Great Gatsby, which all three players answered. How did their wagers fall?

Miller wagered $795, keeping him in third with a total of $7,195. Mixter wagered $600, giving her $14,400. Pasco wagered $11,001, taking him to $27,601. He will return for his seventh game on Thursday, September 18. His current total is $162,117.

Fans thought the Final Jeopardy clue was way too easy. “This was the easiest get in recent memory for me. It is my favorite novel to teach students each year; so between the location in the clue, the color that is mentioned, and I knew Gatsby precipitated the Depression, it couldn’t be anything else,” a user on The Jeopardy Fan forum commented.

“That was a crazy easy answer,” a Reddit user wrote.

“I know hindsight makes it easier to assess wagers, but I feel like if you’re up against a five-day champ, you probably do need to be a bit bolder on your DD betting – Laura could have won the game with even a slightly larger wager on her DD,” one pointed out.

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