‘Jeopardy!’ Contestant’s Secret Harrison Ford Connection

[The following post contains MAJOR spoilers for the Friday, May 16, episode of Jeopardy!]

The winner of the latest Jeopardy! episode shares a special connection with actor Harrison Ford. His job allows him to be in the presence of big actors, including Ford.

Mitch Loflin, from Long Beach, California, played against Erin Hoard, from Las Vegas, Nevada, and returning champion Brandon Monsman, from Cleveland, Ohio. Monsman had a two-day total of $23,600. He plans to raise that on the Friday, May 16 episode after his third-place comeback the day before.

During the interviews, host Ken Jennings talked about Loflin being a set decoration coordinator. He shared that he has watched every Anne Hathaway movie and ranked them from worst to best, putting Brokeback Mountain first. However, what he didn’t share was that he was once on the same set as Harrison Ford. According to his IMDb page, Loflin has worked on The Gray Man, St. Denis Medical, American Auto, Shrinking, and You People. Ford stars in Shrinking with Jason Segal.

Loflin might meet another high-profile actor next season as Michael J. Fox signed on for Season 3.

Although IMDb says Loflin only worked on one episode of St. Denis Medical, he was the set coordinator for 22 episodes of Shrinking, most likely seeing Harrison Ford a lot.

Monsman, a bartender, selected the first question of the game, which turned out to be the Daily Double. He wagered the allotted $1,000. In “3 Words, 3 Syllables,” the clue read, “After debuting on bumper stickers, this 2016 campaign phrase for Hillary Clinton quickly turned into a hashtag.” He quickly answered, “What is ‘Yes We Can?” But that was wrong, so he dropped down to -$1,000. The correct answer was “I’m With Her.”

The returning champion was still in the hole by the first commercial break with -$200. Hoard, a logistics receiver, and Loflin had a pretty even game with correctly answered questions and positive totals. By the end of the round, Monsman got on the board but didn’t answer enough questions to maintain the lead. He had $2,000 by the end of the round. Hoard had $3,000. Loflin led with $4,200.

In Double Jeopardy, the same thing happened and Monsman found the Daily Double on the first question. With $2,000 in his bank, he wagered $1,500. In “Book Title Tattle,” the clue read, ” The opening line of William Butler Yeats’ ‘Sailing to Byzantium’ provided the title for this Cormac McCarthy novel.” He answered correctly with “What is No Country for Old Men?” This gave him $3,500 and put him in second place.

With Hoard in third, she found the second DD of the round. She had $6,600 in her bank and wagered $3,000. In “Plant and Trees,” the clue read, “This genus of ornamental flowering shrubs & plants gave its name to a hard-to-spell deep reddish-purple color.” She moved to second place when she correctly answered, “What is fuchsia?” She had $9,600, $2,500 more than Monsman.

She quickly took the lead and ended the round with $16,000. Loflin was in second with $13,800. Monsman only had $8,300. But, after yesterday’s game, anyone could win.

The category for Final Jeopardy was “National Monuments.” The clue was “Also called ‘Great Gray Horn’ & ‘Bear’s Tipi,’ this site in the Western U.S. was made a national monument in 1906.” The final question was a Triple Stumpers once again, so it all came down to the wagers.

Monsman answered with “What is the Transamerica Building?” He wagered $6,000, ending with $2,300. Loflin’s answer was “What is Mt. Wilson?” He wagered $5,400, leaving him with $8,400. Hoard answered, “What is Chimney Rock?” She wagered $11,601, ending with $4,399. This made Loflin the new champion. The correct answer was Devil’s Tower, Wyoming.

Loflin will face off against two new opponents on Monday, May 19.

Reddit users have noticed a pattern on the game show. They said not only have the Final Questions been Triple Stumpers recently, but the final totals have also been really low, most ranging $10,000 and under.

“We’ve seen a lot of low paydays and difficult FJ!’s as of late. This is the 5th time this month (and over the past two weeks) that the winner has won sub-$10,000. This is the 7th time this month that has seen a FJ! triple stumper,” one fan said.

“I know it’s all subjective but the last few FJ triple stumpers didn’t seem especially difficult,” a fan replied.