Did 'Jeopardy!' champion lose on purpose? Scott Riccardi speaks out

USA Today

5 days ago

This "Jeopardy!" champion is speaking out about the shocking end of his 16-game winning streak. Who is … Scott Riccardi?
On July 25, the engineer from New Jersey lost on the game show after 16 consecutive wins due to a surprising miss on Final Jeopardy! Riccardi subsequently took to Reddit to explain what happened, after some on social media who'd claimed he lost on purpose.
The clue that Riccardi answered wrong was in the category of 20th Century Names. "According to one obituary, in 1935 he owned 13 magazines, 8 radio stations, 2 movie companies & $56 million in real estate," it read. The correct response was William Randolph Hearst, but Riccardi incorrectly guessed "Who is Howard Hughes?"
Riccardi was in the lead going into Final Jeopardy!, but his opponents both gave the correct response, including Jonathan Hugendubler, who came from behind with the win after wagering $9,601.
Some "Jeopardy!" fans expressed surprise that Riccardi didn't respond correctly. As is often the case when a winning streak ends, there were even claims that he threw the game because he was tired of being on the show. "Does anyone think he lost on purpose because he didn't want to come back next season?" one commenter on Instagram read.
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But on the "Jeopardy!" Reddit, Riccardi chimed in to explain the thought process behind his answer.
"My mind unfortunately went straight to Howard Hughes, mostly due to overestimating the importance of the movie companies part of the clue; any previous FJs that had come to mind immediately had worked out, so I trusted my initial response on this," he wrote.
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Riccardi continued that Hearst "wasn't on my mind at all," adding that "several information near-misses and a poor understanding of the timeline in the clue really piled up to prevent me from getting what I now understand to be a very gettable clue."
Some defended Riccardi by arguing the clue was worded in a confusing way and could have been read to mean that the obituary was written in 1935, which would rule out Hearst.
Hugendubler appeared as surprised as anyone by his win, with host Ken Jennings remarking, "He can't believe it!" A visibly stunned Hugendubler immediately walked over and shared a hug with Riccardi, who finished his run on the show with a hefty $455,000 in winnings.
Riccardi, who will return in the "Jeopardy!" Tournament of Champions now ranks number eight on the game show's all-time leaderboard in terms of highest winnings in regular-season play. With $2,520,700, Jennings, who competed on "Jeopardy!" in 2004 before becoming the show's host, remains number one.