Why Were There 3 New Contestants? What Happened to Ben Chan?

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for the April 17 episode of Jeopardy!]

Last time on Jeopardy!, returning champ Ben Chan extended his streak to three games (on April 14), so where was he in the latest episode?

The April 17 episode of Jeopardy! saw three new contestants compete: attorney Madeleine McKenna, writer Daniel Ciarrocchi, and retired systems analyst Toni van Kampen. Fortunately, host Ken Jennings immediately addressed the strange circumstance.

“Astute Jeopardy! viewers will have already noticed that Johnny Gilbert, when he introduced our players, did not mention a returning champion and their winnings. Astute and loyal Jeopardy!viewers will remember that last week, Friday’s show ended with Ben Chan clinching his third runaway win,” Jennings said.

“How do we solve this riddle? Well, as has happened only a few times in Jeopardy! history, the returning champ found themselves unable to travel this week. What that means is, never fear, we’ll have Ben back on at a later date,” he continued. “But it means that Toni, Daniel, and Madeleine are taking the stage all for the first time today. It’s a fresh start. No intimidating returning champ to deal with.”

So when will Ben be back? We should see him again next month, specifically on May 15, according to Fox 11 News, which attributes his absence with an “illness.” And when he returns, he’ll be facing off against another returning champion and a new player, as one Reddit usernoted they did when this happened at the beginning of Season 37 for Zach Newkirk. When that time comes, Ben will be returning s a three-day returning champ with winnings totaling $ 69,001.

We’ll have to wait to see who exactly that is, but for now, it’s Daniel who will be returning tomorrow as a champ, with a one-day total of $16,001. He went into Final Jeopardy with a lead of only $800 over Toni but was the only one to get it correct. The clue, in the category “English Literature,” read: “It says, ‘The mind is its own place, & in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven. What matter where, if I be still the same.’” The answer was Paradise Lost.

Jeopardy!, Weekdays, check local listings