Jeopardy! champ Ben Goldstein sets baffling record with fifth win he admits was never his intenti
JEOPARDY! contestant Ben Goldstein has won Thursday's episode, setting a record of the mixed-bag variety.
He amassed the lowest combined five-day total of any player in history, leaving fans and even himself slightly astonished.
Ben is a content marketing specialist from Dexter, Michigan, who has become the latest Jeopardy! contestant to go on a run, nonetheless.
He beat Andrea Rednick Granados, a community organizer and stay-at-home daughter from Dallas, Texas, and Dan Meuse, a university lecturer from Rhode Island.
Going into Final Jeopardy, Ben sat at $15,200, a bowtie-boasting Dan had $12,000, and Andrea (who missed the second round's two Daily Doubles) had $4500.
Final Jeopardy! under "The 19th Century" read: "In 1823 he wrote, 'in the war between those new governments and Spain we declared our neutrality.'"
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Only Andrea was correct on Monroe [doctrine], while Dan incorrect with "Marshall," and Ben was incorrect with "Madison."
While Dan wagered $0, which looked like it would earn him the upset victory, Ben anticipated that bet and only wagered $3,195.
His score left him just $5 ahead of Dan, and all three contestants looked floored.
“Well, congratulations, by just five dollars, you are a five-day Jeopardy! champion!” Mayim Bialik declared, sounding a bit surprised herself.
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Ben finished with $12,005, a five-day total of $49,298, and an invite to September's 2023 Tournament of Champions- no small feat.
However, it comes at a price, as Ben is the first player to make less than $50,000 in their first five wins.
Megan Wachspress set the previous record last June with $52,002 - who mysteriously won three of her eventual six games by exactly $2.
JEOPARDY! FANS REACT TO BEN'S RECORD
Fans reacted to the wild milestone on various internet forums, and didn't know what to make of it since multi-day winners usually rake in bigger bucks.
One person wrote on Reddit: “HOLY CRAP, lowest 5-day total in the show's history. What are the odds?!"
Another wrote: “I can't imagine there have been many other 5-day champs who were 1/5 on Final Jeopardy."
A third joked: “Megan Wachspress 2.0. But hey, a five-game win is a five-game win!
“All I have to say is, 'Oh my Megan Wachspress' wrote a fourth under a YouTube clip.
A fifth wrote: "His early wins weren't the prettiest, but some of the clues haven't been the greatest in quality, either, and he has outplayed and/or outwagered the competition."
"Whether he gets immediately knocked out of the Tournament of Champions or not...there will be two Bens there."
A sixth simply wondered: "How are two Americans so good to be on Jeopardy! not knowing about the 'Monroe Doctrine?'"
'THIS LOWEST SCORING CHAMP STUFF'
Ben wrote to Twitter: "The funny thing about this 'lowest-scoring multi-day champ in Jeopardy! history' stuff is that it was never my intention to be a small-ball, risk-averse player.
"I wanted to be like Amy Schneider: Aggressive at first, then switching to defense mode after getting a big lead.”
"But then I went 0-for-4 on wager questions in my first two games, and needed to figure out another path.
"If the Daily Double/Final Jeopardy questions were going to be landmines for me, I needed to treat them that way.
"Hence, smaller wagers. Wagering as if I'd get the Final Qs wrong, not right.
"Mental resiliency is such a big part of this game. That means shaking off setbacks in real-time, and sometimes it means shifting your strategy when you're getting your a** kicked out there."
He also wrote: "Quick message to the haters: I’d rather win ugly than lose pretty."
Fans applauded Ben for his honesty as one person replied: "That's smart," and another: "Well, you’re in the ToC, an elite group. Best wishes."
'NOT THE SHARPEST WRITING'
Ben, who has shared on stage that he fended off a street attack against his boss and was previously a movie reporter, has admittedly faced some inscrutable questions and categories this week.
On Tuesday's episode, he was tasked with a Daily Double that fans deemed "terrible."
Ben then chimed in on Twitter, and even he wrote: "I didn't particularly care for it!"
Meanwhile, on Monday's episode, Mayim presented a movie mashups category that fans said: "barely even made sense."
The episode ended up having 19 triple stumpers, only a few games after an episode had 23 triple stumpers of 60 clues leading execs to say, "Let's forget it ever happened."
On Thursday, even James Holzhauer, 38, told TV Insider: "I think it’s still a great show, but it could use a little tweaking here and there.
"Some of the question writing could be a little sharper than it has been."
One Reddit user surmised earlier this week: "Something is definitely off… The number of missed and incorrect clues is an issue. It sucks for contestants, and it sucks for us watching at home.
The questions seemed atypically difficult, and many were worded poorly."
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Another wrote: “The quality of the categories and clues has gone downhill since Alex. I think that's a testament to him going over the clues as part of the writing process."
Others wondered if the WGA strike has affected the writing quality, while a third argued: "I think that’s what you’re seeing here: the normal summertime crappy clues phenomenon."
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