‘Jeopardy!’ Drama as 18-Year-Old Delaney O’Dea Plays in Thriller

Spoiler Alert

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[Warning: The following post contains MAJOR spoilers for the Thursday, October 16, episode of Jeopardy!]

18-year-old contestant Delaney O’Dea returned for her second Jeopardy! game, which was a thriller after her game one win. She beat one-day champion Chris McGinn on Wednesday.

O’Dea, from Santa Monica, California, played against Cindy del Rosario, from Denver, Colorado, and Dave Keder, from Durham, North Carolina, on October 16. O’Dea is an undergraduate student at Brown University.

The beginning of the game was an even playing field for all three contestants. Keder, a tutor, had $2,000 when he found the Daily Double. He went for the true Daily Double in “That Guy’s the Worst.” The clue read, “This fifteenth-century Walachian prince was such a thug that his nickname refers to his favorite way of killing people.”  “Who is Vlad the Impaler?” Keder answered correctly, giving him $4,000 and the lead.

He kept the lead by the first commercial break with $4,800. Despite having the category “Internet Celebrities,” which would relate to O’Dea’s age group, and answering three out of five correctly, she did not take the lead by the end of the round. Keder had $6,000. Del Rosario, a hospice and palliative care nurse, was in second place with $5,400. O’Dea had $4,400.

In Double Jeopardy, Keder maintained the lead and found the first DD on clue 14. With $8,400 in his bank, he wagered $2,500. In “Pleas,” the clue was “After 62 mos. in prison, Wikileaks’ Julian Assange pled guilty and was sentenced to 62 mos.., in prison, aka these two words.” The game show contestant didn’t give an answer in time, so he dropped to $5,900. The correct response was “time served.”

After that, O’Dea took the lead with $11,200. But, del Rosario found the last DD on clue 22. She wagered $4,000 out of her $11,000 in “19th Century Drama.” The clue was “Robert Montgomery Bird noted that his own The Gladiator about this revolt leader was from the same year as Nat Turner’s revolt.”

She hesitated until host Ken Jennings prompted her to answer. “What is Spartacus?” del Rosario responded. She was correct and took the lead with $15,000.

Del Rosario kept the lead by the end of the round with $16,600. O’Dea was in second with $11,600. Keder had $6,700.

The category for Final Jeopardy was “U.S. Presidential Elections.” The clue read, “The worst showing by an incumbent candidate in an election was when this man came in third with just 8 electoral votes.” The correct response was William Howard Taft, and only one of the contestants got it right.

Keder’s response was “Who is Hoover?” He dropped down to $6,000, giving him a final total of $700. O’Dea’s response was “Who is John Adams?” She wagered $10,000, giving her a final total of $1,600. Del Rosario had the correct answer and wagered $6,601. This made her final total $23,201. Del Rosario became the night’s winner and will return on Friday, October 17.

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