'Jeopardy' player recreates his identical twin's 3-year-old feat in incredible TV moment
"Jeopardy!" fans have witnessed spouses and siblings compete on the show, and they were delighted when identical twins appeared years apart. What's even more incredible is that they both became champions during their respective stints on the show. Contestant Ron Lalonde became a two-day champion, replicating his twin’s performance on the show a number of years ago. He was the brother of former champion Ray Lalonde.
Ray had competed on the show from December 2022 to January 2023, and had a whopping 13-game winning streak as per a report in Deseret News. In that time, he almost won $400,000. Replicating that feat was not going to be easy, but Ron got off to a fantastic start. “Your twin brother, Ron, called you the real ‘Jeopardy!’ talent in the family,” host Ken Jennings recalled.
The host also mentioned that he had some big shoes to fill, but the contestant did not seem to worry too much about that. Ray was in the audience supporting his twin, who played a fantastic game to become champion. He was up against Libby Jones on his first Final Jeopardy. Jones was the woman who brought an end to Harisson Whitaker’s 14-game winning streak. The category for the final clue was ‘Monuments & Memorials.’
The clue read, “In NYC’s Cathedral of St. John the Divine, an alcove with memorials to Hart Crane, Sylvia Plath and 54 others is the ‘American’ this.” Lalonde had $11,200 in winnings and answered ‘Poet’s Corner.’ That was correct, and he had wagered $4,001. That brought his total to $15,201. This was just a dollar more than Jones’s $15,200. She answered incorrectly, however, and lost $7,201.
As a result, Lalonde became a “Jeopardy!” champion for the first time. “The Lalonde twins are two for two,” Jennings said as Ray cheered on his twin. Ron, however, was not done with just a single-day win. He carried his form into his second game, which saw him compete against Marie D’Avignon and Andy Luo. The clue of Final Jeopardy in this case was from the ‘The Supreme Court in the 19th Century’ category.
It read, “Citing the ‘language of the people, whether sellers or consumers,’ in 1893, the SC ruled on the botanical designation of this.” All three contestants had ‘Tobacco’ as their answer, but it was incorrect. Lalonde, however, was quite far ahead in first place with $24,4000. He had wagered $4,000, which brought him down to $20,400, making him a two-day champion. His total earnings so far are an impressive $35,601.
Watch his first win here and the second spectacular game here.
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