[Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for the June 14, 2023 episode of Jeopardy!]
Suresh Krishnan’s Jeopardy! streak has ended. Holly Hassel became the gameshow’s new champ during the Wednesday, June 14 episode, bringing an end to Suresh’s six-day winning streak.
Holly, an English professor from Fargo, North Dakota, dominated most of the game, with Neilay Amin, a psychiatrist from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, pulling out in front by just $200 in the second round.
A Daily Double win helped Holly snag her lead early on. By the time of the first break, she was in the lead at $2,600. Suresh was in second at $0, and Neilay was sitting in third at -$800. Going into round two, the trailing players had redeemed themselves, but Suresh still had not taken the lead. The scores were Holly with $5,200, Suresh with $2,000, and Neilay with $800.
Neilay found the second Daily Double, which helped him move up to first place. By the time he found it, his competitors were tied in first with $6,800 each. Neilay increased his score to $9,600 thanks to his true Daily Double bet. Just a few moments and a couple more right answers later, Neilay had $14,000 in winnings when he found the third Daily Double. His incorrect answer took him down to $10,000, but he was still in the lead. Suresh had clinched second place at this point with a score of $7,200, and Holly was trailing closely behind in third at $6,800.
The “Latino Actors & Actresses” category helped Holly pull ahead into second place in the final moments of Double Jeopardy. She and Neilay dominated the category, ending the round with $12,000 and $12,400, respectively. Suresh went into Final Jeopardy with $5,200. He still had a chance to pull out a win, but he needed a savvy bet and a correct final answer to do so.
Once again, no one answered correctly in this Final Jeopardy. The category was “TV & Film Characters.” The clue: “He debuted on TV in 1967; the show’s creator wanted someone from behind the Iron Curtain to be on ‘our side.’” The correct answer was, “Who is Chekov?” Suresh had no idea what the answer was. He sent a loving message to his family instead for his final answer and bet $0. Neilay also didn’t know, with his final answer just a question mark; he bet $11,601.
Holly gave the only answer, “Who is Kojak?” but was incorrect. Her wager of $1,500 left her with $10,500. With Neilay at $799 and Suresh at $5,200, Holly became the new Jeopardy! champ. Suresh’s previous winnings were $96,595. His June 14 winnings ($5,200 plus an extra $2,000 for second place) bring him to a grand total of $103,795, and he will be seen again in the Tournament of Champions.
On the Jeopardy! Reddit page, one user congratulated Holly on her win. “It seemed almost from the start that Suresh might not eke out a win this time,” they wrote. “For a minute it looked like Dr. [Neilay] was going to come from behind on the strength of the medicine category. Congrats to Suresh on making it to the TOC, and to Holly for the win.”
Suresh himself took to the board to celebrate his competitors. “Yep. Neilay totally outbuzzed me on some of my favorite categories. I had an inkling when I got outbuzzed on the first clue,” he replied with two laughing emojis. “Holly was amazing as well getting a lot of stuff I had no idea about. She had a well deserved win!”
He even responded to a fan who was happy to see his streak end. The user commented, “Honestly glad to see Suresh go. I know that the entire point of being on Jeopardy is to win, and that how you get that win shouldn’t take away from your moment of glory (barring of course cheating and other unethical means), but even still as a viewer I just don’t enjoy watching someone constantly only squeak out victories because of luck in FJ. I’ll wish the guy good luck in the TOC, but I have a feeling that much like Courtney Shah and other players who achieved multiple wins in this fashion, he’s gonna get clobbered there.”
Suresh’s reply read, “Thanks! I can totally see your point of view. I have heard two kind of comments. Some of them love the close games and come from behind wins and others (like yours) look for more dominant players. We will see about the ToC. I have no idea how things will go there. I think a lot depends on the categories and whether I manage to improve my really poors[sic] buzzer skills.” The user wished him well in response.
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This story originally appeared on TV Insider
