[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for the Thursday, February 20 episode of Jeopardy!]
A fan-favorite Jeopardy! player lost out on the chance to move to the next round of Jeopardy!‘s Invitational Tournament as three new contestants took their spots behind the podium, and fans were shocked. The winner spoke out after fan outrage.
Raymond Goslow, a library technology consultant from Marietta, Georgia, faced off against fan-favorite Troy Meyer, a music executive from Cleveland, Ohio, and Jackie Kelly, a developer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Goslow is the 2022 National College Championship first runner-up. Meyer is the most seasoned out of all three as the 2024 Tournament of Champions second runner-up and Season 39 six-game champion. Kelly is a Season 38 four-game champion as well as the 2022 ToC quarterfinalist.
During the first round of the game show, out of 30 questions, Meyer correctly answered nine, including the Daily Double. He answered two incorrectly. This made his total a tie with Goslow at $7,400. Kelly was in last place with $1,600.
In Double Jeopardy!, it was a battle for first place as Meyer answered many correct questions in a row, then Goslow did the same. However, Kelly stepped up, correctly answering three questions, including a Daily Double. She made it a true DD and wormed her way into second place with $11,200, right behind Meyer. Goslow then gained the lead by answering a DD right after Kelly, giving him a total of $15,600.
From then on, it was back and forth between Goslow and Meyer correctly answering questions, despite the former’s uncertainty on many of them. Kelly answered the last eight questions in the round correctly, but it wasn’t enough. At the end of Double Jeopardy!, Goslow led with $25,200, followed by Meyer with $19,800, and Kelly in third with $13,200.
The category for Final Jeopardy! was “The Southwest.” The question read, “The four-syllable name of this city is almost identical to its namesake town in Spain, except that the Spanish one has an extra ‘R’.” Kelly didn’t write anything down and wagered all of her money, bringing her down to $0. Meyer answered correctly with “What is Albuquerque?” He wagered $7,601, which brought him to $27,401.
Goslow also answered correctly and ended with $39,601 after wagering $14,601. He had the second highest score of the season and will advance to the semifinals. Goslow spoke out after his shocking win on Reddit.
“More thoughts to come after I actually get the chance to watch the episode tonight, but I think this has to be one of the most fun and dynamic games of Jeopardy I’ve ever experienced (as a player or a viewer) – and I would say that even if I had come up short in the end!” he wrote.
Fans congratulated him in the comments with many saying they were scared Meyer would catch up to him. However, other fans were shocked to see Meyer, who is a beast at trivia, not win.
“Shocking as it may be to see Troy go down already in the QF’s when many people thought he was the favorite to win the whole thing, I also am kinda glad to see it. Not because I don’t like Troy or anything like that (if anything I still wish he won the TOC over Yogesh), but because it makes this tournament that much more interesting and the potential winner and Masters slot a LOT more of a wildcard!” one fan said.
“My jaw’s on the floor. Godd**n, Raymond. All the kudos to you. Even when three other people have technically beat Troy at least once, I’m still impressed to see it,” said another.
“Very surprising,” said another.
“OMG I was expecting Troy to dominate but both Jackie and Raymond (especially Raymond) put a stop to that,” wrote one last fan.
Friday, February 21 will see three new players behind the podium: Maya Wright, Jeopardy! High School Reunion Tournament competitor, Roger Craig, one-day winning record holder, and John Focht, a 2021 ToC finalist, will face off.
Jeopardy!, Weekdays, check your local listings