[The following post contains MAJOR spoilers for the Friday, July 18, episode of Jeopardy!]
Scott Riccardi, from Somerville, New Jersey, has become the most-talked-about contestant on Season 41 of Jeopardy! because of his “superchampion” status and cracking the Top 20 all-time list. For Friday’s (July 18) game, though, he might have people talking for a different reason: The 11-time winner shared that he was once electrocuted while in an orchestra.
Riccardi, who has an 11-day total of $282,101, returned for his twelfth game (and, hopefully, win). He faced off against Ameen Ismail, from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and Julia Broussard, from New Orleans, Louisiana.
At the beginning of the episode, host Ken Jennings shared that Riccardi, an engineer, finished with 39 correct responses on Thursday, which is the most the game show has seen all season.
The first part of the game didn’t start off too well for Riccardi, though. There were many Triple Stumpers, and by the time the first commercial break came around, he was in third place. Not to mention, he had to share an embarrassing story when the show returned.
“You had an exciting high school experience, right? What happened to you there?” Ken Jennings asked.
“It was kind of ramping up when I was in the orchestra for all of the spring musicals,” Scott Riccardi shared. For Rent, they put us right on stage, and they had this metal cage. I guess it wasn’t grounded right, so every time you stepped into it, you’d get a bit of a shock. But then the next year, in rehearsal for The Addams Family, I was trying to unplug a keyboard amp, and I got a real bad shock. I didn’t think anyone noticed because they were all rehearsing, but I looked over and there was one horrified freshman, just staring open-mouthed at me.”
Jennings laughed and said, “But, you’ve lived a charmed life. You’re living all your adventures and made it to the Alex Trebek Stage.” The contestant agreed before Jennings went back to his podium.
Scott Riccardi tried to take the lead when he found the Daily Double in the second half of the round. With $1,800, he moved to second place. He wagered $1,000 in “Ambrose Bierce’s Devil’s Dictionary.” The clue read, “This group, then of 90 men: ‘A body of elderly gentlemen charged with high duties & misdemeanors.’” “What is the Senate?” Riccardi answered correctly. This pushed him into first place with $2,800, only $200 above Ismail, a particle physicist.
He kept the momentum up the rest of the round and maintained the lead with $4,000. Ismail had $3,600. Broussard, a university administrator, was in third with $1,800.
In Double Jeopardy, Riccardi answered three clues correctly before finding the first DD of the round. He wagered $4,000 out of his $8,800, which would still keep him in first place if he got it wrong. In “MP,” the clue read, “From Italian, it’s a person who puts on, & often finances, public entertainment, like a concert or theatrical event.” “What is impresario?” the champion answered correctly, giving him $12,800.
Only two clues later, Ismail found the last DD. He was in second with $5,200 and wagered $5,000. In “War Locks,” the clue was “These blue-painted Scottish warriors whose name is from Latin for ‘paint’ are traditionally illustrated with flowing locks.” With uncertainty, Ismail said, “Who are the woad raiders?” He was wrong and dropped down to $200 and third place. The correct response was The Picts.
The other two contestants tried to catch up to Riccardi for the rest of the round by answering most of the clues correctly, but he was just too far ahead. Riccardi ended with $22,400. Broussard was in second with $6,800. Ismail had $2,600.
The category for Final Jeopardy was “Science Words.” The clue read, “Expanding on a word created by a Czech playwright, Asimov coined this term in 1941 for a branch of science that didn’t exist then.” The correct response was “robotics,” and all three contestants got it right.
Ismail wagered $105, giving him a final total of $2,705. Broussard wagered $0, giving her $6,800. Riccardi wagered $8,000, making his winning total $30,400. He has a 12-day total of $312,501. His twelfth win moved him up two spots to number 14, according to The Jeopardy! Fan (check out the All-Time winnings on the sidebar). Riccardi will return for his thirteenth game on Monday, July 21.
“Not that many contestants can say that they’ve won at least twelve Jeopardy games in regular play. Congrats to Scott!” a Reddit user said.
“Man, I wish I could make it look that easy,” wrote another.
“There are only 5 more episodes in the season (i.e., 1 more tape day). The way he’s been playing, I’d say Scott has a very good chance of continuing his streak into season 42,” added a third.
Jeopardy!, weeknights, check local listings
