Was That Final Jeopardy Too Tough?

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for the April 3 episode of Jeopardy!]

All three contestants — college administrator Dan Bayer, tech consultant Crystal Zhao, and returning champion, manager Sharon Stone — were stumped not only by all the Dailly Doubles (each picked one) but also the Final Jeopardy in the April 3 game of the game show.

Heading into the final round in this episode of Jeopardy!, Crystal was leading with $11,000, followed by Sharon with $8,900 and Dan with $7,200. In the category 20th Century Eponyms, the clue read, “A 1940 headline about this included ‘failure’, ‘liability when it came to offense’ & ‘stout hearts no match for tanks.’”

Crystal was the only one to write a guess (rifle). The correct answer was Maginot Line. Dan bet $5,400, Sharon $5,600, and Crystal $6,801. Crystal became the new champion, with a total of $4,199. (Sharon ended the game with $3,300 and Dan with $1,800.)

The contestants weren’t the only ones to find that clue challenging. A few people on Reddit did as well. “That was a tough FJ. Maybe if it gave context instead of pullquotes [sic] it would have gotten a correct response,” one user suggested, while another pointed out, “if you didn’t know what an eponym was, your chances of solving this FJ clue were considerably hindered.”

But not everyone agreed. “It probably could have been written better but there was also an element of WECIB [what else could it be]. (A better category title would have helped too),” another user acknowledged, with someone chiming in as a reply, “the quotes also apply to Ben Simmons on the Nets.”

According to one viewer, who did agree it wasn’t the easiest clue, what could have helped is the fact that “it had already come up twice in other high-value clues earlier this year.” That person pointed to clues from the January 3, 2023 game (in L’Histoire de France, “Named for a war minister, this 1930s “Line” of forts & small concrete bunkers, built to stop the Germans, didn’t”) and the one on February 16, 2023 (in Military Men, “In a 1934 work, de Gaulle preferred a mobile army to this static defensive barrier set up vs. a German attack; Chuck was right”). The person added, “basically, ‘failed WWII defensive thing named for a person’ is a Pavlov for Maginot Line.”

At least one person described it as “very easy,” sharing they’re “a highly specialized history nerd and also someone who can’t say what a eponym is without looking it up.”

Jeopardy!, Weekdays, check local listings