JEOPARDY! champ Troy Meyer's six-day winning streak has ended in brutal fashion.
After the loss, the game show's viewers shared their theories as to why the contestant couldn't claim another win.
As mentioned, the now-former Jeopardy! champion Troy entered the contest with total winnings of $214,802 after having won the previous six games.
He was joined by challengers Dee Williams, a research associate, and Jake DeArruda, a delivery dispatcher.
At the start of the episode, host Ken Jennings, 48, recapped how the Tampa, Florida music executive "survived another close game" the day before.
He explained how the champ "took a narrow lead into final Jeopardy" and how "Troy has been a very strong player in that third round of play."
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Sadly, for Troy, that wouldn't be the case this time around.
Heading into Final Jeopardy, show newcomer Jake held the lead at $27,800, with Troy following somewhat close behind with $15,600, and challenger Dee in last with $6,600.
After all three contestants failed to correctly provide the American title for the 2007 French biopic La Môme, the game ended with Jake winning and collecting a total amount of $22,797.
Troy, having bet all his earnings on the Final Jeopardy question in order to win and continue his streak, ended the game with $0.
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Troy's run concluded with him "ranked 21st of all time in regular winnings," and in 9th place for the highest 5-day totals.
On a popular Jeopardy-dedicated Reddit board fans weighed in on Troy's loss as well as the possible reasons behind it.
"He must have been exhausted at the end of the taping day, considering he hadn't earned a runaway since Tuesday," one suggested before they added: "Still, he'll be a reckoning force in the Tournament of Champions."
Another questioned: "I wonder how much of it was fatigue - was curious about him sitting down for yesterday's game, and he missed a lot more obvious stuff today, as well as having to face a very strong opponent."
"I could almost tell Troy was getting fatigued, which is likely why he required a chair in yesterday's game. Being a long streaker on Jeopardy! really tests your mental endurance," one user said.
"This is why Ken Jennings is still in my eyes the best Jeopardy! contestant of all time... his stamina is just insane," they added.
"... Troy was extraordinarily strong in his first few games buzzer-attempt-wise, but it seemed like there was a gradual decline across the tape day to merely excellent takes," a viewer noted.
One person wrote: "I think we all know that Troy had a lot more in him, but sometimes the Daily Doubles just don't fall your way."
MAJOR WEAKNESS
The day before, fans spotted a weakness in Troy's gameplay after noticing that the contestant wasn't seeking out the all-important "Daily Doubles" and as such was constantly being put on the ropes.
The returning champ faced John Guszkowski, a planning consultant from Pomfret, Connecticut, and Emma Moore, a librarian from Princeton, New Jersey.
Troy held a big lead until rival John found one of the three randomly placed "Daily Doubles."
There are three hidden special clues in each game, and landing on one allows a contestant to wager however much they want from their stash of cash and respond to it alone.
John bet $8,000 and got it, which put him well into the game.
In fact, by Final Jeopardy, Troy - who had only found one "Daily Double" early on, was at $24,400.
John was right behind at $22,200 - and Emma was back of the pack at $2,800.
Final Jeopardy under "History" read: "Returning home in 1493, Columbus stopped in the Azores at an island with this name, also something he’d lost off the Haiti coast."
John was correct, and when he revealed he bet $11,000, he had a wide lead for the moment, at least.
'I THOUGHT HE DIDN'T HAVE IT!'
A nervous Ken admitted when it was Troy's turn to show his hand: "Troy Meyer giving us his best poker face."
"Did he know it was 'Santa Maria' - he was writing late... he did!"
Troy got it and flashed a huge winning smile.
He knew it was time to bet big too and thankfully added a massive $20,001 as Ken exclaimed: "Wow!"
Troy won the nailbiter with $44,401 and a humungous six-day total.
According to Jeopardy.com, Troy had only found eight Daily Doubles in his six games - though he's gone 8/0 he's averaging just above one per game.
While that's making for climactic finales, it was a stressful statistic when everyone was out for blood.
Ken admitted Troy "survived a scare" by also getting Final Jeopardy correct, or else he would have lost.
"Troy is an excellent player but his Daily Double luck hasn't always been the best," one fan wrote at the time.
Nonetheless, Troy is now the fifth contestant to qualify for next year's Tournament of Champions.
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The others are fan-favorite Ray Lalonde with 13 wins, former poker ace Cris Pannullo with 21 wins, five-day champ Luigi de Guzman, and four-day champ and priest David Sibley.
Troy's fifth win on Thursday put him $1 higher than legendary winner Amy Schneider's total at that same point in 2022, so that's nothing if not a good sign.
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