[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for the October 25 episode of Jeopardy!]
Will Wallace has been flying under the radar this week with some margin-call and come-from-behind victories, but the reigning champ reigned supreme on Friday, October 25’s episode, leading Jeopardy! fans to suddenly see big things for him on the Alex Trebek stage.
Wallace, a game design director from Austin, Texas, entered with three-day winnings of $55,598. He faced Olaf Talbert, a retired U.S. Navy officer & research assistant from Pensacola, Florida, and Carol Lowe, a photographer from Conway, North Carolina (and pre-American Idol Clay Aiken fan).
After the Jeopardy! round, Wallace, who shared that he dropped out of college to pursue game design (he’s worked on more than seven Star Wars games, according to his LinkedIn), had a strong start. Bolstered by a correct Daily Double, saving himself by specifying “Cloth Diapers,” he led with $6,000, Lowe $1,000, and Talbert $4,000.
But in Double Jeopardy, while Lowe missed a low-stakes $1000 Daily Double, Wallace had a force awakens moment. His potential as a serious streaker took shape as he swept a “Rocktober” category, music in the part-musician’s wheelhouse, including $3000 on the last Daily Double. “Happy ‘Rocktober!’” host Ken Jennings declared after the sweep. Now exuding confidence and nabbing clues left and right, Wallace came into his own, soaring to a runaway with $22,200, neither opponent even close with Lowe at $3,600, and Talbert at $1,200.
Final Jeopardy’s “U.S. HISTORY” clue was: “The largest land deal in U.S. history was formalized in a building at this spot, now named for a military hero & President.” Wallace and Talbert correctly responded, “Jackson Square” with the former adding $2,200 to win with $24,400 for a four-day total of $79,998 and an it’s-all-sinking-in smirk.
Fans took to the Reddit thread for the episode buzzing over Wallace, who not only all-but solidified a slot in the next Tournament of Champions, but seemed to now be gaining momentum, which few saw coming, let alone on an end-of-tape-day Friday face-off.
“Super stoked to see Will power through the taping day and make it to four wins! It’s also cool to see him get a category sweep after two opponents from previous games had gotten sweeps of their own (Sophia on Wednesday and Kiki on Thursday),” one user wrote.
Another predicted Wallace could be a 10-day champ, AKA super-champion, if he keeps it up: “Will is crushing it, can easily see him becoming a 10-day champ,” they wrote.
A third agreed, but pointed out this was an “outlier” game for him: “If he keeps playing like he played in this game (20,400 Coryat!), then anything’s possible. But today was an outlier for him–his Coryats in his first 3 games have been much more in the standard contestant range (11,466 3-day average). He’s also doing very well on FJ so far, which is huge factor.”
A fourth simply wrote: “Nice to see Will get number 4. Hope he can get number 5 on Monday”
What do you think, does Will Wallace have the makings of a super-champion? And how did know one get that Jackson Pollack clue? Color us unimpressed! Let us know in the comments section below!
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