Unfortunately for Ben Chan, shutting down doesn’t count when playing “Jeopardy!”
The assistant professor of philosophy at St. Norbert College in De Pere lost Tuesday’s episode of the game show, ending his nine-game winning streak.
Chan was in the lead to get into Final Jeopardy!, but for his response seeking the names of two lovers in a Shakespeare play from the Latin words for “blessed”, he wrote “Who are Beatrice and Benedict?”
However, the correct answer was the characters Beatrice and Benedick.
Being one letter less cost Chan as he bet $12,201 of his total of $17,400, bringing his amount under Lynn Di Vito who, despite getting the wrong answer, bet a lesser amount of money. Di Vito only bet $3,000 of his $14,800 to end up with $11,800.
Realizing he had lost, Chan let out a deep sigh and leaned down, lowering his head to the height of the podium.
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Chan wrote on Reddit that he “was so close!” He blamed the error on the wrong memory cards he made.
“The misspelling of ‘Benedict’ is common, and it ended up on a few of my flashcards. (Note: the misspelling is contained in Irene Franck’s book on the tip of your tongue, what a serious J! nerds will know him as a favorite of Karl Coryat),” he wrote under the handle JeopardyBenBen in the Jeopardy! game thread.
In his written response, Benoît was crossed out and rewritten. Another Reddit user asked him what made him cross it out.
“I was worried that my first Benedict would be unreadable – I should have made it less readable :0”, he replied.
Chan took home $252,600 during his nine-fight all-game winning streak. Runaway wins occur when a competitor is so far ahead that there is no way for the next closest competitor to catch them, even if they were to bet their entire Final Jeopardy winnings. !
Chan has qualified for the Tournament of Champions, which will take place later this season.
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Besides the wrong answer in Final Jeopardy!, it was two incorrect answers to the Daily Double questions that cost Chan dearly.
The first cost him $4,200 in the first round as he tried to make it a true Daily Double. That brought him down to zero after building a $3,800 edge.
The second failure cost him $3,000 in Double Jeopardy! as he tried to take over the helm from Di Vito, a retired museum educator from Colorado.
Otherwise, Chan got 27 correct answers to 14 for Di Vito and nine for the third player, Danny Leserman, a political communications officer from Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif.
“Lynn played a perfect match!” Chan wrote on Reddit. “Especially happy for her, because she’s an incredibly knowledgeable fan of the show.”
During his run, Chan won three matches in episodes that aired in April, but later tested positive for COVID-19 and was unable to travel for tapings. He returned for the May 15 episode and continued his winning streak until losing on Tuesday’s episode.
Contact Kevin Dittman at 920-431-8416 or kdittman@gannett.com.