A “Jeopardy” contestant shocked host Ken Jennings and the show’s audience when she revealed she had a connection to the final clue.
It all happened on the Monday, June 23, episode of the game show, when contestant Emily Croke correctly answered the last question.
“In 1896, the Vassar-educated wife of this man wrote, โThousands of dollars may be paid for a copy of Shakespeare,'” the final clue read.
Jennings, who wrote, “Folger,” was the only one who got it right.
โThat was my great-great-great-aunt Emily,” she said while smiling in a clip shared by the “Jeopardy!” Instagram account.
“The one we mentioned in the clue is the person you, Emily Croke, are named after?โ Jennings asked.
“Yes,” Croke replied.
Fans on social media took to the comments to express their shock by the coincidence.
“Wow!!! Thatโs amazing. Congrats Emily! ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฎ,” one person wrote.
“I love Slumdog Millionaire moments,” another said, referring to the popular 2008 movie of the same name about an impoverished Indian man who won big on a game show by coincidentally answering questions that related to his life.
A third added, “How fitting! Thatโs so lucky AND she played so well.”
However, there were some who felt skeptical about the coincidence.
“Thatโs how you know the show is rigged,” someone wrote.
Another fan weighed in on the slim chances that this could happen, without expressing how they personally felt.
“I donโt think that in the entire history of Jeopardy, that any clue before was accidentally written about a contestantโs family!! The odds are astounding considering the longevity of the show and the probability of being on the show when the question is asked and the millions of applicants who apply to play!!!! We have a better chance of winning the lotteries!!!!๐๐๐ฅ๐ฅโค๏ธโค๏ธ๐.”
One commenter said they were at the taping and that Jennings explained “how the Jeopardy ‘Answers’ are randomly chosen and how quirky it was for her to be at the receiving end of this one.”
Whatever the case, Croke won Monday’s game and walked away with a total of $13,201. She returned to “Jeopardy!” the next day, on Tuesday, June 24, and ended up in second place.
