Returning Jeopardy! champ Richard Nguyen stepped up to the podium for a third time on the Alex Trebek Stage, hoping to add to his two-day total of $36,801. This time around, he battled Andy Briseño, a novelist and associate professor from Natchitoches, Louisiana, and Caleb Groen, a law and policy student originally from Thousand Oaks, California. Warning: Spoilers for the July 2 episode of Jeopardy! ahead!
Would the research attorney from Placentia, California, win for a third time?
“On yesterday’s show, it was Richard Nguyen, or Tic-Tac, as the kids growing up used to call him, who proved that his win against super champ Adam Remsen was no fluke, as he pulled off a runaway win yesterday at game No. 2,” said host Ken Jennings. “Today, Caleb and Andy are the new competition for Richard.”
Nguyen started the game with “Around the Hospital” for $800, which offered the clue: “The modern version of this process to set the order of services is said to have been invented by a Napoleonic-era field surgeon.” With the correct answer, “What is triage?” challenger Groen took control of the board.
Groen proved to be a formidable opponent for Nguyen, as the associate professor made quick work of the first round. He found the first Daily Double on the third clue under “U.S. Bodies of Water.” Making it a true Daily Double and betting $1,600, Groen got the clue, “This estuary stretches for about 110 miles between New York & Connecticut.” With the correct answer of the Long Island Sound, Groen’s new total was $3,200.
Champ Nguyen stood at $0 for much of the pre-break game until he got on the board with clue No. 13 in the category “The Blues” for $600. With the clue, “Albert King’s album cover for ‘Born Under’ one of these includes a depiction of a black cat & snake eyes,” Briseño buzzed in first and answered incorrectly, “What is a bad star?,” bringing is total to $3,200, while Nguyen nabbed the cash wih correct answer “What is a bad sign?,” giving him $600.
By the time of the break, challenger Groen was in the lead with $5,800, and Briseño was in third with $4,200, while Nguyen was in third with $1,200.
In the getting-to-know-you portion of the game, Briseño thanked his grandmother for introducing him to Jeopardy! and pushed him to take the test. And like any good grandma, she was even in the audience to cheer him on. Groen talked about his love of tennis and waiting eight hours to watch a Wimbledon match, and Nguyen shared a story about his trip to Lake Como with friends that included an unexpected side quest for a misplaced key.
By the end of the first round, Groen kept his lead with $7,600 while Briseño came in second with $5,000. Nguyen was in third with $2,200.
In Double Jeopardy, Groen found the first Daily Double under “Literary Biography” for $1,200. He bet $7,000 against $12,000 on the clue, “In the first bio of John Keats, the poet says, ‘We will go at once’ to this city; ‘I know my end approaches.’” With the correct answer of Rome, his pot was not $19,000.
Nguyen found the second DD under “Give Me Some ‘Skin’” for $2,000, and he wagered his entire $5,000 pot on the clue, “This title of a Pulitzer Prize play about a family evading disasters ends the dentally wrong cliché ‘We escaped by…” With the correct answer “What is The Skin of Our Teeth?” he doubled his take to $10,000.
By the end of Double Jeopardy, Groen was still in the lead with $23,800, while Nguyen moved to second place with $17,200, and Briseño was in third with $12,200.
“Look at those scores! We don’t often see all three players above $12,000 heading into Final Jeopardy,” Jennings remarked.
In the Final Jeopardy round, the category was “Northern Europe.” The clue read: “This country is said to have more islands than any other in the world; there are 30,000 just in the archipelago named for its capital.”
Briseño answered Copenhagen, a wrong answer that cost him $5,001, bringing his tally to $7,199. Groen answered Denmark, which was also wrong. He bet $10,601, which brought his total to $13,199.
Did Nguyen get it right?
Nguyen also got it wrong, answering Norway. The correct answer was Sweden. He bet $7,201, which brought his total to $9,999, giving him second place and making Caleb Groen the new Jeopardy champ!
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