'Jeopardy' contestant hailed for breaking the 4-game curse in one of the most iconic TV moments
"Jeopardy!" players have an iconic place among fans as well, and Ken Jennings is proof that doing well as a contestant can take someone a long way. But while winning streaks are well known, a four-game curse before qualifying for the Tournament of Champions is another thing everyone acquainted with the game is aware of. It was reported that during season 35, nine participants couldn't make it past the fifth game. Fans nicknamed the phenomenon "player's fatigue" since the game filmed consecutive sessions if the contestant won back-to-back, which made them finally feel exhausted.
Hence, it was observed that they could only win four games in a day, as per TVInsider. However, this curse was challenged by player Josh Weikert when he crossed the fifth game mark with a whopping $80,202 win. He was officially crowned as the sixth-day champ with $100,202 in winnings.
"It's almost literally unbelievable. You come out on stage, and I think for everybody, the goal is just like, don't embarrass yourself because you prepared. You dreamed about this, but to actually then win a game and then to stick around for a while. It's a dream come true," the player gushed after he was hailed for lifting the four-game curse. Weikert had won $54,001 on day three, and by day four, he was surging ahead by making $59,202. "Was the Tournament of Champions something you set your sights on?" the interviewer inquired. Weikert revealed that he still couldn't believe he had created a new record. "No, not at all. No. In fact, I said, like, my sort of best-case scenario would be maybe, you know, stringing a couple of wins together," he explained.
"But you know, as it got closer and we got closer to five, that's when I, that's when I felt pressure because prior to that, it, it was just trying to have a good time and focus on the questions and, you know, doing the best I could," the Tournamnet of Champions qualifier added. Weikert also disclosed that it was one of his life goals to play on 'Jeopardy!', but he had lost the chance of participating 20 years earlier. The champion went into detail, saying that he received a call from the show while he was at work and that it was canceled because he was unable to handle it privately. However, he chose not to give up, "I just kept taking the online tests and, and here we are," he candidly replied.
Elaborating on what he would do with his winnings, the Immaculata University professor confessed that he was partly going to use the sum for charity. On the game show's website, various players who fell to the four-game curse had diverse reasons for their failure. “My fifth game was the first time I had to play three games back to back, and I was expecting to go in with an advantage ... being comfortable with the buzzer and having momentum from just having won two games. Instead, my ability to calculate and strategize was gone, and my edge with the buzzer had evaporated," former contestant Anneke Garcia revealed.
Dave Leffler, another contestant, also expressed that by the fifth game, his capacity to indulge in intellectual hints diminished due to constant pressure and fatigue.
