The Wednesday May 29 episode of Jeopardy! featured an exciting contest between Brian O’Shea, a gifted specialist and teacher from Winston-Salem, North Carolina; Adriana Harmeyer, an archivist from West Lafayette, Indiana; and Abby Mann, a digital scholarship librarian from Normal, Illinois. Entering the game, Abby already had a one-day champion status under her belt with winnings of $5,200.
The first round presented a diverse range of categories, including Louisiana Parish Names, Novels, This & That, Don’t Stop Retrievin’, Classic Rap Lyrics, and Change the S to an N. During this round, Adriana demonstrated her strategic prowess by successfully wagering $1,000 on the Daily Double in the Louisiana Parish Names category. Heading into the first break, Abby and Adriana were tied at $800 each, while Brian had built a slight lead with $2,200.
As the game progressed into Double Jeopardy!, the contestants navigated through categories such as White House Weddings, “M”usic, Shall We Science?, Cookbooks, Alliterative TV, and This is Fine. Adriana continued to showcase her knowledge and quick thinking by correctly answering the first two Daily Doubles, bolstering her lead to $16,200 entering Final Jeopardy!, while Abby trailed closely behind with $12,400. Brian, unfortunately, took a risk on the third Daily Double and missed, ending the round in the red.
The Final Jeopardy! category, Historic Geography, posed a challenging clue: “This city attracted thousands of visitors even before a new shrine to a murder victim was dedicated there on July 7, 1220.” Both remaining contestants provided the correct response of “What is Canterbury?” Adriana, however, displayed her confidence and strategic wagering by adding $10,000 to her score, ultimately claiming victory with a total of $26,200. Abby finished as the runner-up with an impressive score of $15,400.
One question that stumped all three contestants was the reference to an alliterative strip club on an HBO series, with the correct response being “Bada Bing!” from The Sopranos.
