For Chris D'Angelo Eight Jeopardy Wins Was Enough.

 

As Ken Jennings mentioned as he introduced the contestants Chris D'Angelo had an impressive run to wrap up May: 8 wins, 5 of them runaways and just over $194,000 in earnings. Of course compared to Awkwafina in Quiz Lady, the Emmy winning film his sister Jen had written in inspiration of her brother's lifelong efforts to get on the show, it was still 85 wins short of his fictional counterpart's track record.

Perhaps Ken should have held his tongue though he can't see the future. Because as June began Chris faced off against Camryn Bell and Peter McFerrin, each of whom were looking for 'win number one'.  And it became very quickly they were going to do everything in their power to stop Chris from getting win number 9.

It was clear from the start this was going to be a difficult match. Chris went into the red on the fourth clue of the Jeopardy round and by the first commercial break he was at -$1200 while Camryn and Peter were tied at $4200. When play resumed Peter found the Daily Double and got it right. Chris managed to get out of the red by the end of the round but he was facing an uphill battle: he had but $600 to Camryn's $5000 and Peter's $8300.

It took a while in the Double Jeopardy round for Chris to find his groove or get in ahead of Peter who spent the first half on a tear. He got to the first Daily Double but by that point Peter had $15,700 to Chris's $5400. He didn't have a choice but to bet it all in SIGNS & SYMBOLS:

An interrobang combines these 2 punctuation marks into a single one.

Chris looked relieved: "What is a question mark and an explanation point?" He doubled his score to $10,800 and was in second place.

Peter, however, maintained his lead throughout the round. He had $19,900 in front of him when Chris found the other Daily Double in THE GLORIOUS FIRST OF JUNE. It was his last chance and while he had $13,600, he bet just $3600. That was probably wise:

1533: No. 2 in a series, she's crowned Queen of England, briefly."

Chris paused for a long time. His final guess was the same as mine: "Who is Lady Jane Grey?" It referred to Henry VIII's second wife, Anne Boleyn, and he dropped to $10,000.

It was only due to getting the last three clues correct that he stopped Peter from running away with the game. Peter finished with $20,700 to Chris's $11,2000 while Camryn was still very much alive with $10,200.

It came down to Final Jeopardy. The category was IDIOMS & EXPRESSIONS: In the 1830s cities on the Mississippi banned cardsharps, creating more of these, now meaning one who takes big risks.

Camryn's response was revealed first. "What are big spenders?" It was wrong. It cost her everything.

Chris was next. He wrote down a good guess: "What are high rollers?" That was also wrong and he also lost everything.

Peter was now in good shape. His response was: "What are mavericks?" In a weird way Peter was closest. As Ken put it: "When cities instituted gambling bans, it created more riverboat gamblers." (I was right at home, but don't put me above the contestants: it was a last second wild guess and I was sure it was wrong.) It cost Peter just $1701 and he finished with $18,999 to dethrone Chris and become the new champion.

Chris seems to have bad timing yet again. Had he managed this many wins and this much money last season he would have automatically gotten a bye to the semifinals of the 2026 Tournament of Champions. Instead he's going to have to fight it out just to see if he can make it to the finals. On the upside when his sister Jen is asked for the inevitable sequel to Quiz Lady her brother has now given her enough material to turn into a franchise. I look forward to seeing who they cast to play Jamie Ding. (And be original: don't just go to Bowen Yang.)

On a more serious note while Chris couldn't quite become a super-champion he did manage to most impressive record of any 'giant-killer' in Jeopardy history since Jonathan Fisher managed to take down Matt Amodio and win eleven games back in October of 2021. Just for fun let's look at Chris track record compared to every super-champion who managed to get 10 wins or more since Fisher did it when they won their eighth game:

 

AFTER 8 WINS

Chris D'Angelo: $194,201

Jonathan Fisher: $193,800

Amy Schneider: $295, 200

Mattea Roach: $182,801

Ryan Long: $160,401         

Cris Panullo: $275,502

Ray Lalonde: $219,300

Adriana Harmeyer: $183,100

Scott Riccardi: $201,301

Harrison Whitaker: $218,600

Jamie Ding: $222,203

Tristan Williams: $158,501

 

Honestly that looks pretty good. Granted he was nowhere at the level of Hannah Wilson after eight games or Ben Chan but still it's pretty good comparison.

In addition he managed to get $50,000 in one of his wins a figure Tristan never got to once in any of his ten games and he won roughly as much money in eight games and Paolo Pasco did in seven.

And if we go back a little further he managed more money then Ben Ingram did in 8 games or Buzzy Cohen and Dan Pawson did in nine and all of them went on to win the Tournament of Champions against some pretty impressive competition. In the case of Ben and Buzzy they both managed to win competitive finals against several players who on paper were far superior to them.

Of course Season 42 isn't over yet and we're a long way from the 2027 Tournament of Champions. But let's not kid ourselves that already the roster for that one is way more impressive then last years. I'll be doing a refresher course next Friday just before the final six weeks of the seasons but the fact that Chris D'Angelo is only the fourth best qualified player so far shows you the level of competition were likely to see in a few months' time.

Awkwafina, get ready to be asked a lot of questions about Chris D'Angelo in the next few weeks.  Truth just became stranger then fiction in a good way.