The Jeopardy Tournament of Champions has now reached the stage where celebrity winners face regular players. This time, comedian W. Kamau Bell tried to secure a spot in the semi finals. Things did not go his way.
The game aired on January 22. Bell, who is from Oakland, California, played against analyst Alex DeFrank from Brooklyn, New York, and publicist Ashley Chan from Lewisville, Texas. It followed another low scoring episode after a rough game the night before.
Alex DeFrank started strong. Even though many questions went unanswered early on, he managed to take the lead. He found the first Daily Double and boldly bet everything he had. Unfortunately, he got the question wrong and lost all his money. That mistake pulled him back to zero and put him level with Bell at the first break. Ashley Chan was slightly ahead at that point.
The second half of the game completely changed things. DeFrank bounced back and began answering almost every question correctly. Despite more tough clues that no one could solve, he pulled ahead again. By the end of the round, Bell and Chan were both in the negative while DeFrank stayed in front.
Double Jeopardy was even tougher. Many clues stumped all three players. DeFrank still led but made a few costly mistakes on the Daily Doubles. Each wrong answer chipped away at his score. By the end of the round, the gap between the players had narrowed a lot.
In Final Jeopardy, none of the contestants got the answer right. The category was 18th century arts. The correct response was Messiah. Because of the bets they made, the final result surprised many viewers.
Ashley Chan finished with the highest score and won the game. She is now moving on to the semi finals. Bell did not win, but another celebrity winner will get a chance to compete next week.
Fans shared mixed reactions online. Some felt the game was chaotic and unpredictable. Others believed DeFrank played the strongest overall but lost because of risky wagers. Many agreed the Tournament of Champions has been unusually difficult so far.
Jeopardy airs on weekdays. Episodes are available to stream the next day on Hulu and Peacock.