Jeopardy! champ loses to newcomer by $18K in runaway game and admits how strategy failed

JEOPARDY! champ Ian Morrison has lost to a newcomer in a runaway game after his winning strategy failed him.

Ian, an Airline ramp agent from Colorado, went into his second Jeopardy! game with previous winnings of $22,009.

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Jeopardy! newcomer Paolo Pasco won Wednesday night’s gameCredit: ABC

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Paolo beat out Ian Morrison, who was vying for a two-game winning streakCredit: ABC

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Their other opponent was Leslie Oakerson, who came in third in the competitionCredit: ABC
But he was forced to put down his buzzer for good on Wednesday night’s episode when he was defeated in a landslide victory.

Ian went up against Paolo Pasco, a puzzle writer from California and Leslie Oakerson, a financial services manager from New Jersey.

Host Ken Jennings introduced the categories for the first round.

Ian led entering Double Jeopardy! with $4,000, while Paolo trailed behind with $2,400 and Leslie with $3,600.

Paolo came back strong in Double Jeopardy! in the beginning of the round and took the lead with $14,800.

Ian got hot towards the end and went into Final Jeopardy with $10,000.

Leslie came in third with $1,200.

During Final Jeopardy!, the category was Historic Phrases.

Paolo was correct and finished the game with $20,001.

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Leslie also answered the question correctly and finished at $2,200.

Ian unfortunately answered incorrectly, coming in third with $2,009.

Ian took to Reddit to explain his loss and how his strategy failed to secure a second win.

He wrote, “Paolo is a buzzsaw, simple as that. My Final wager was an attempt to cover his wager in case he got it wrong, plus a little extra to round out my 2 game total. But even though Iron Curtain was the first thing I thought of for the clue, it seemed too easy/obvious.

“Paolo wagered enough to cover me anyway, so even if I had responded correctly, I still would have lost.”

He then explained how nerve-wracking it is to play on stage in front of a live audience.

He said, “You can scream all the answers through the TV or win a round of drinks at pub trivia, but being on mic takes away 10 IQ points. I’m proud that I finally made it on and even happier and more surprised that I beat Jonathan!

“This was a dream came true and I hope I’m in the running for Champions Wildcard.”

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Contestant Ian Morrison won Tuesday’s show after a comebackCredit: ABC

TAKING THE WIN

The Jeopardy! season premiere aired on Monday, September 8 with returning champion Jonathan Hugendubler.

The adjunct professor had won the last two consecutive games.

Jonathan had the lead as he entered Double Jeopardy! with $4,000, compared to Stacy Shelly’s $2,800 and Ian’s $3,200.

He upped his earnings in the Daily Double rounds with massive leads ahead of the others with $21,200 versus Ian’s $14,600 and Stacy’s $10,800.

He went into Final Jeopardy! with $21,200 versus Ian’s $14,600 and Stacy’s $10,800.

Jeopardy! Contestant Rules

Passing Jeopardy!’s online Anytime Test is hard enough, but there are also many rules players must follow once they make it to the stage:

The returning champion is always at the leftmost podium and keeps playing until they lose.
Contestants don’t have to say “who is” or “what is” in the first round but must do so in Double Jeopardy! and Final Jeopardy.
Contestants can change their responses as long as Ken Jennings or the judges haven’t made a ruling.
The minimum wager for a Daily Double is $5. The minimum wager for Final Jeopardy! is $0.
Written responses in Final Jeopardy! do not have to be spelled correctly, but they must be phonetically correct (the judges decide this).
If there’s a tie after Final Jeopardy, the tied players enter a bonus clue shootout, and whoever buzzes in first correctly wins.
If all three contestants wager everything in Final Jeopardy! and are incorrect, leaving them with $0, there will be no returning champion (it’s happened before—six times).

But Jonathan failed to get the Final Jeopardy! answer correct.

Ian was the only one who knew the answer, adding $7,409 to his earnings, bringing his total to $22,009 by the end of the game.

This was impossible to match for two-time champ Jonathan, whose final score was $13,199.

Stacy finished in third with $8,399.

Jonathan had previously beaten Scott Riccardi after a 16-game winning streak.

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Ian ended Jonathan Hugendubler’s two-game winning streak on September 9Credit: ABC

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Host Ken Jennings on the new season of Jeopardy!Credit: ABC