The episode on July 18 went smoothly until the end, when both William Chou and Erica Weiner-Amachi ended Final Jeopardy with a tied total score of $15,601. In order to decide a winner, guest host Ken Jennings introduced the tiebreaker, involving a new category and one clue. He explained that whoever buzzed in first with a correct answer would win. The tiebreaker category was Biographies, and the clue read, “The Passage of Power covers 1958 to 1964 in Robert Caro’s 4th volume on the life of this American.” Chou buzzed in first, and he gave the correct answer of “Who is Lyndon Johnson?,” making him the winner of the night’s Jeopardy! game. The tiebreaker round is never for any extra money and only decides the winner, so Chou’s winnings for the day remained at $15,601. The episode’s third contestant, returning winner Emily Fiasco, was very close to making it a three-way tie, as her score after Final Jeopardy was $15,600, behind the others by just $1. The official Jeopardy! Twitter account posted about the twist, announcing that it had been 103 games since the last tiebreaker. It’s the fifth regular-play game to ever end in a tiebreaker, with the last on an episode that aired on Feb. 23 where Christine Whelchel won against Henry Rozycki in the extra round. In 2016, a new rule was instated that required a winner to be named even if there was a tie. Previously, Jeopardy! was allowed to end with multiple winners. Next, Jeopardy! Contestant Wins Fifth Game In a Row In Extremely Unlikely Fashion
