Purdue archivist's Jeopardy! reign ends Wednesday

Purdue archivist Adriana Harmeyer, a strong contender with 11 consecutive correct Final Jeopardy! answers under her belt, aimed for her 16th win on the latest episode of Jeopardy!

Little did anyone anticipate that a graduate student from Birmingham, Michigan, would seize the night.

Harmeyer kicked off the game with confidence. By the end of the Jeopardy! round, she led with a total of $8,100 and no incorrect answers.

The Double Jeopardy! round is where things took a downturn for Harmeyer.

In this round, Drew Basile waged $10,000 which allowed him to place first with an impressive number of $23,600, a $14,300 difference from Adriana’s $9,300 total.

His speed at the buzzer made him stand out from the other contestants. Basile wasn’t afraid to make mistakes and finished the round with 21 correct and four incorrect answers.

The Final Jeopardy question read: “In 1978 a new cologne for men called this, what’s being played in the company’s iconic logo?”

Basile played it safe by only waging $118.

Tekla Sauter, who followed Basile in the rankings, waged $8,001, allowing her to keep her second-place position even if Harmeyer waged all her earnings.

“What is Polo?” Sauter wrote.

“What is Axe?” said Harmeyer’s answer.

Host Ken Jennings announced the correct answer, “What is Polo?” and all three players kept their rankings.

Basile smiled big as he celebrated his first win on Jeopardy! He’ll go for his second win tomorrow.

Basile’s next game will be broadcast tomorrow on CBS at 7:30 p.m. The show also streams on YouTube TV.