A true rarity happened on the Oct. 13 episode of โJeopardy!โ when the game ended in a tie, bringing the fate of the game down to one additional question.
At the conclusion of Double Jeopardy, returning champion Greg Monson had $18,200, while Ron Clarke had exactly half that, with $9,100. The third contestant, Evelyn Lamb, had $5,000.
The Final Jeopardy category was โ80s Music. โA posted sign told the artists to โcheck your egos at the doorโ before the recording of this 1985 singleโ was the clue.
The answer was โWe Are the World,โ and all three contestants were correct. Lamb wagered no money, leaving her at $5,000. Clarke wagered all of his $9,100, doubling his score to $18,200. Finally, Monson didnโt wager anything, meaning he remained at $18,200 โ the same score as Clarke.
โWe are headed to a tiebreaker,โ host Ken Jennings announced.
In a tiebreaker, the host reads out a category and gives one clue. The first person to buzz in and respond correctly wins the game.
The category was American Woman. The clue was, โAs part of the George W. Bush administration, she served as National Security Advisor & later as Secretary of State.โ
Clarke buzzed in first and correctly named Condoleezza Rice, making him the winner and new champion.
Ties at the end of regulation on โJeopardy!โ are not unprecedented. In fact, Jennings presided over one on his second day as guest host following the death of host Alex Trebek in 2021.
โJust my second day on the guest-hosting job…and this happens,โ he wrote on X, alongside a clip of the moment in 2021.
Tiebreakers, which were previously only seen in tournament play, were first allowed in regular games in 2016. The first regular game tiebreaker question came in 2018.
Tied contestants were previously declared co-champions. On the March 16, 2007, episode, all three contestants tied after Final Jeopardy, each with $16,000. The trio played a rematch game in the next episode.
There have been at least 70 instances of game ties dating back to 1985, according to several โJeopardy!โ fan sites. โJeopardy!โ debuted in 1964, but the weekday syndicated version viewers know today premiered in 1984 with Trebek as host, a role he held until his death.
