A recent episode of Jeopardy! had fans of the show on the edge of their seats.
Things came down to the wire in Final Jeopardy!, with the three contestants coming within just hundreds of dollars of each other’s winnings.
Wednesday’s episode saw Jake Garrett, Sam Claussen, and Juveria Zaheer — all former contestants who didn’t win during their first Jeopardy! appearance — duke it out during the Second Chance competition.
Jake, Sam, and Juveria were given a second chance, as the show’s title implies, but only one would come away the winner.
The Double Jeopardy! round is when things really got tense between the trio of competitors.
Juveria wagered $15,200, making it a true Daily Double, and wound up with the correct answer.
Jeopardy! contestants go head-to-head in Final Jeopardy round
Although it looked like Juveria would likely come out on top, Sam and Jake gave her a run for her money.
In the Final Jeopardy! round, Juveria was playing with $32,400 on the board, Sam with $18,000, and Jake with $17,900.
The Final Jeopardy category was “Countries,” and host Ken Jennings read the clue to the trio.
“Of the 14 countries that border China, it’s the only monarchy and the only one with a population under one million,” Ken told the players as their 30-second countdown began.
As it turned out, all three contestants came up with the correct response: Bhutan.
Sam and Jake each doubled their money – Sam catapulted his earnings to $36,000, and Jake had up $35,800.
Although Juveria only wagered $4,000, it was enough to win with the correct guess, putting her on the board with a total of $36,400, just $400 more than Sam’s winnings.
Following the nail-biter of an episode, some Jeopardy! viewers headed to Reddit to discuss the suspenseful gameplay.
Jeopardy! fans call the episode ‘one of the greatest’ ever
Many Jeopardy! viewers found the December 20 episode to be the most exciting one they’d seen in quite some time.
“Those were some of the most impressive scores I’ve ever seen on J!” wrote one Redditor.
“All 3 players should be very proud,” they continued. “In fact, they should form a quiz bowl team together. They’d probably dominate!”
“I need a cigarette now,” quipped another Jeopardy! fan. “What a game.”
Another Redditor commented, “This has gotta be one of the greatest J! games ever! Crazy from [start] to finish.”