a day ago
Jeopardy! contestant won thanks to wildest Final Jeopardy coincidence
I wouldn't label this a Jeopardy! controversy at all. It's just a crazy coincidence, one that producers and others could never have foreseen.
In a recent episode, contestants were given the Final Jeopardy clue of "Collections." Here's the clue: In 1896 the Vassar-educated wife of this man wrote, "Thousands of dollars may be paid for a copy of Shakespeare."
We'll give you 30 seconds to answer, as they do on the show. And the answer? Who is Henry Clay Folger?
Only Emily got the answer correct, and as Jeopardy! revealed on social media, it turns out that she has a familial connection to the Folger family! The "Vassar-educated wife" was Emily, who was Emily Croke's great-great-great-aunt ... and who she was named after!
I love Ken Jennings' reaction in the video above: "Emily Folger, the one we mentioned in the clue, is the person you, Emily Croke, are named after? WOW!"
Again: total coincidence, no harm, no foul. It's bound to happen with so many episodes and so many different clues, right? Just wild that it ended up that way.
