‘Jeopardy!’ Ended in Rare Tie; Here’s What Happened


Fans of Jeopardy! saw a rare occurrence on Wednesday’s show….two “Jeopardy!” contestants were tied after the “Final Jeopardy!” round.

The two contestants were Christine Whelchel, a piano teacher from Spring Hill, Tennessee, and defending champion Henry Rozycki, a doctor from Virginia.

Whelchel had $19,000, Rozycki $17,000, and Patrick Byrnett $8,800 going into Final Jeopardy. The subject for the final clue was “Play Characters” and the clue was: “A 1949 review noted the ‘wrong formulas for success’ of this character & ‘fatal misconceptions about his place in the scheme of things.”

All three contestants guessed the answer correctly…Who is Willy Loman?…which left Whelchel and Rozycki tied with $34,000.

Thanks to new rules established in 2016, a winner had to be declared so host Ken Jennings read one final clue and explained that the contestant who gave a correct response first would be the winner.

The tiebreaker’s category was “Flowers,” and the clue was “After its inclusion in a 1915 poem, this red blower became a symbol of fallen World War I soldiers.”

Whelchel correctly guessed “Poppy,” becoming the new Jeopardy! champion.

Whelchel revealed during her interview that she battled breast cancer during her game show auditions.

“I was diagnosed in March of 2021, and one of the first things I did a couple of weeks after being diagnosed was take the ‘Jeopardy!’ test. And I ended up getting my audition the night before my surgery in May,” she said.

“Well, evidently the audition went well!” Jennings responded. “You’re here. And I hope the surgery [went well] too.”

“Everything else went well and I’m cancer-free as of right now,” Whelchel replied.

Another tie happened last week in a semifinal of the show’s National College Championship. Liz Feltner of Northeastern University correctly guessed the tiebreaker clue to move on to the championship.

(Miami Herald)


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