On Jeopardy Drew Basile Did More Than Just Survive
And The Other Occasions Jeopardy Champions Give Way to Other Jeopardy Champions
Great Jeopardy champions seldom follow great Jeopardy champions. This is more to the odds of playing the game than anything else.
When the limit of games won was capped at five it really couldn’t happen. There were occasions when there would be two consecutive five game winners but they can be briefly recounted It happened twice in the 1993–1994 season: first Brian Moore won five games and he was immediately followed by John Cuthbertson winning five. Less than a month later David Venderbush won five games and he was succeed by Rachael Schwartz. She only won four games but since she won the 1994 Tournament of Champions, I’d say that counts. At the end of the 1994–1995 season David Siegel won five games and he was followed by Isaac Segal, who won four games and the two would end up as finalists in the 1995 Tournament of Champions. (Both lost to Ryan Holznagel.). At the start of the 1997–1998 season Dan Melia would win five games and would immediately be followed by Catherine Ramen (then known as Fred Ramen)) who won five games. That year J.J. Todor would win five games and be followed by Chris Ward winning five. It happened three times in the 2000–2001 season but after that, it didn’t happen again as long as the five time rule existed.
After the rule was lifted at the start of Season 20, it began to happen more often but still not frequently. Chris Miller was defeated after five games by Scott ‘Renzo’ Renzoni who won four. In the middle of season 22 Tom Kavanaugh, after winning eight games, would be defeating by Kevin Marshall who won six. It would be another six years before it happened again. Jason Keller would win nine games, be defeated by Dave Leach who won six, who in turn was beaten by Dan McShane who won four.
Then in Season 29, it happened several times. Keith Whitener would win seven games before losing to Paul Nelson, who won five. At the end of the season Ben Ingram would win nine games and be defeated by Mark Japinga who won four.
In Season 30 when Arthur Chu became the first player since David Madden to reach double digits with eleven wins, he more or less paved the way for the modern super-champion. However while the number of times Jeopardy champions would succeed champions with consecutive winning streaks would begin to increase none of the players who would manage to dethrone super-champions, from Arthur all the way to Austin Rogers could muster more than a single win before being beaten themselves. Like many things, this changed with James Holzhauer.
When Emma Boettcher managed to defeat him she won three games which would be enough to get her into the 2019 Tournament of Champions where she would ultimately do battle with him again in the finals of that Tournament. Then in the aftermath of Alex Trebek’s passing and the rise of the modern super-champion, this has begun to occur far more frequently.
After winning 38 games and more than 1.5 million dollars, Matt was defeated by Jonathan Fisher, who then went on to become a super-champion in his own right. He won eleven games and just under a quarter of a million dollars before being defeated. Then after Ryan Long had won sixteen games, he was defeated by Eric Ahasic who won six games and just over $160,000 before he was dethroned by Megan Wachspress who won six games and $60,000. While it doesn’t quite count the same way Hannah Wilson’s eight game streak that netted her $229,801 was beaten by Ben Chan who won nine games and $252,600.
And now after defeating Adriana Harmeyer, the most recent member of the elite Jeopardy super-winners, Drew Basile has entered the ranks of this kind of player. He lost yesterday having managed to win seven consecutive games and $129,601.
As is know by the world Drew’s is known for having competing on the most recent season of Survivor which ended in December of 2023. (In another one of those coincidences, Jeff Probst hosted Rock and Roll Jeopardy on VHI for several years.) Drew admitted early on that there was a major difference between the two — one is tougher on the body than the mind but over the seven victories he managed, it’s clear there were bits of both that were necessary for his run. That was true in his second victory in which all three players responding incorrectly on Final Jeopardy but he had enough money at the end to repeat as champion. And it was especially true in his third.
In Double Jeopardy Drew hit a groove and seemed certain to run away with the game. Then Josh Heit, his closest opponent got four out of the last six clues correct. When Drew got the last one right, he had $20,000 — exactly half Josh’s total of $10,000.
The Final Jeopardy category was SPORTS. “50 years ago Vin Scully announced he got ‘a standing ovation in the deep south’ for breaking a long time record. Josh knew the correct response: “Who is Hank Aaron?” Josh bet everything. Drew also knew it was Hank Aaron and wagered nothing. The two men were tied and for the sixth time in a regular game, Jeopardy ended in a tiebreaker round,
The category was SCIENCE: “This phenomenon named for a 19th century man is apparent in moving light sources as well as moving sound sources.” Drew rang in first: “What is the Doppler effect?” He was right and won his third game.
Three of Drew’s next four wins were runaway victories. In one of them challenger Erin Buker made a dubious Jeopardy history when she finished at the end of Double Jeopardy at -$7200. That score is only the second lowest total in the entire forty years of Jeopardy history, though its worth noting Erin was still admired by Jeopardy viewers for her noble effort against a great player. In two of Drew’s win he was trailing at the end of the Jeopardy round and managed to come back to be ahead at the end of Double Jeopardy.
However on Friday Drew’s luck ran out. In a sense it’s kind of amazing he actually went into Final Jeopardy with a chance to win his eighth game because throughout the entire match he was playing horribly. The only reason he had that chance was none of his opponents were playing any better. In hindsight, the fact that all three players got the first clue incorrect was a foreshadowing of how the game was going to play out.
Drew found the Daily Double in the Jeopardy round on the fourth clue in ALLITERATION. The only player with money he bet $1000: “For the 2022 album Death Cab for Cutie’, it’s the song ‘Asphalt Meadows” James had no idea it was the title track (I didn’t either for the record) and dropped to -$800. Remarkably that wasn’t rock bottom at one point he was actually at -$2200 and had only managed to get up to -$1400 by the time the Jeopardy round mercifully ended. By that point Cat Pisacano had $3400 and Andrew Fox was at $200, so Drew was not out of the running.
Double Jeopardy was actually worse for everybody. Drew had what could charitably be called a horrible performance: he gave 19 correct responses but also nine incorrect responses including all three Daily Doubles. Rarely did a player to more to defeat himself than Drew did during Double Jeopardy.
Drew was at $8600 when he found the first Daily Double in ANCIENT NAMES. Cat was in second with $3800. Drew bet $3000:
“His Sayings begins: “The master said, to learn and then do, is not that a pleasure?” Drew paused before guessing: “Who is Aesop?” It was Confucius. He dropped to $5200. He immediately got the next two clues in that category correct and was at $8800 when he found the other Daily Double in STUFF ABOUT STATES: “When this state joined the Union in 1812, it was the only one with a non-English speaking majority.” He thought it was Florida; it was Louisiana. He lost another $2000.
Had he managed to get either one correct, he probably would have had another run away victory. As it was he was still in the lead at the end of Double Jeopardy with $9600 to Cat’s $5800 and Andrew’s $600.
It came down to Final Jeopardy. The category was NOTABLE AMERICAN WOMEN. “In her autobiography she tells of a rather singular coincidence, that one of her Swiss ancestors was a teacher of the deaf.” Andrew and Cat each knew the correct response: “Who is Helen Keller?” But Drew had stared at it for a long time before he wrote down: “Who is Gallaudet?” He clearly had doubts as he written a frowny-face emoji after the clue. Cat was already ahead of him with $11,500 as she became the new champion. Drew ended his run with seven wins and $129,601.
It intrigues me that after the endless postseason and only 57 regular season games we nevertheless have five players who have definitely qualified for the next tournament of Champions and two more who have a very strong chance.
Lisa Ann Walter — Celebrity Jeopardy Winner
Alison Betts — 5 wins, $121,500
Amy Hummel — 5 wins, $100,594
Grant DeYoung — 4 Wins, $81,203
Amar Kakirde — 4 wins, $55,899
Ariana Havemeyer — 15 wins, $349,600
Drew Basile — 7 wins, $129,601
By comparison, if we leave out both the Second Chance winners and the three game winners, it took 82 regular season games to get the same number of eligible players the Season 40 Tournament of Champions. In fairness two of those players Cris Panullo and Ray Lalonde won 34 games between them during this period but it is striking that whenever the next tournament of Champions takes place (something the producers will soon have to be considering as Season 40 draws to a close) we’re not in that bad shape, and that’s without considering that we have quite a few three game winners to add into the mix if necessary as well.
The last month has demonstrated that for all the controversy and messes that the show has had to deal with in Season 40 — the lion’s share of them self-inflicted wounds — that just as with every other time in the last few years Jeopardy has faced a crisis, we are reminded of what really matters — good players and good competition. Jeopardy demonstrated on a few occasions the last year that it has learned from its mistakes — it has stopped making players read the full names of the clues, it has not been highlighting the clue on the board in every game (as they were in prime time games) and clearly the reaction about revealing the Daily Doubles location in last year’s Masters created enough backlash for them to not include in this year’s. Jeopardy has been demonstrating that the fans will forgive its failing if the play on the Alex Trebek stage is good enough. To use a clue that Drew ironically enough answered in his final appearance, when it comes to what works and what doesn’t the producers will sometimes listen when the tribe has spoken. Hopefully they’ll remember that as we move into Season 41.