Liam Starnes, an undergraduate student from Barrington, Illinois, secured his fifth consecutive victory on Jeopardy! today, navigating what many viewers described as an unusually difficult game. The win qualifies Starnes for the upcoming Tournament of Champions.
The 21-year-old champion faced Raguell Couch, an undergraduate student from Durham, North Carolina, and Harold Goldston III, a karaoke bar owner from Knoxville, Tennessee. Liam Starnes quickly established an early lead, finding the first Daily Double and doubling his score.
Raguell Couch briefly overtook Starnes after correctly answering the second Daily Double under the "Movie Genres" category. However, Starnes reclaimed the lead after locating and successfully answering the third Daily Double in the "The Light" category.
Heading into Final Jeopardy!, Starnes held the lead with $16,000. Couch was in second place with $10,600, while Goldston finished Double Jeopardy! with a rare negative score of -$2,200.
The Final Jeopardy! category was "Historic Names." Host Ken Jennings read the clue: "He was riding back from the conquest of Granada when he was summoned to a royal meeting that would change history." Only Starnes provided the correct response.
Starnes finished the game with $21,201, bringing his five-day total winnings to $103,002. This game marked a departure from his previous dominant wins, which often saw him leading by a wider margin.
The game featured an unusually high number of "triple stumpers," instances where none of the contestants provided a response. There were 20 such occurrences, significantly more than the average of less than 10 per game, highlighting the challenging nature of the clue selection.
Fans watching the game took to social media to comment on both Starnes' performance and the difficulty of the questions. Many praised the young champion's ability to maintain his composure and secure the win despite the circumstances.
One viewer noted the challenging gameplay, observing, “Why did this game seem so much harder than normal? I feel like there were at least double triple stumpers too.”
