It was a shocking win from behind.
On Friday, Carmel native Shaan Mishra was named the new champion of Jeopardy! in a thrilling competition in which he only claimed the top spot in the final round. Mishra’s win even elicited a “way to go!” from Carmel Mayor Sue Finkam on Facebook.
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In the final round of Jeopardy! on Friday, Oct. 24, Mishra scribbled “Who is Cook ???” to a clue about a man whose bones were reportedly preserved and considered sacred by the people of Hawaii in 1825.
Mishra took his time answering, head up, eyes looking ahead as the iconic Jeopardy! theme song played in the background. Competitors Kristina Pohribnij, a stay-at-home mom from Palatine, Illinois, and returning champion Tom Devlin, an attorney from Washington DC, were focused, heads down and writing.
For much of the game Mishra had been in last place. Then it was time for the final Daily Double Jeopardy game. He correctly answered sclera to a clue about what covers 5/6 of the eyeball and surged ahead of Pohribnij to second place.
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The pressure was on for Final Jeopardy with Mishra a distant second place and trailing Devlin by $7,200.
Mishra, a management consultant, said he was in the midst of a two-and-a-half long backpacking trip that took him to 17 countries when he found out he’d be competing on Jeopardy. “I realized that the best way for me to study as I was traveling was just to ask the people around me what they knew the best.”
He studied the Bible while driving though the Caucasus Mountains in Armenia and Georgia and heard about The Summer I Turned Pretty, a popular TV show, while in India. That drew a laugh from host Ken Jennings.
With the Jeopardy timer up, Pohribnij unveiled her answer. “Who is Father Damien?,” she wrote, wagering $5,000 of her $10,800. Incorrect.
Jennings moved on to Mishra, noting that Mishra had thought about the answer for a long time. Mishra shook his head as his answer was revealed.
“You’re shaking your head but it is Captain Cook,” Jennings said. “After his death, they kept his bones.” The Indiana man smiled. Mishra had taken a more cautious approach. He wagered nothing of his $15,600 in earnings.
“Interesting,” Jennings said.
The host moved on Devlin, who also said Father Damien. He wagered $8,401 of his more than $22,000 in winnings and fell to second place with $14,399 — a stunning and tight loss.
Mishra stood with both hands on his head and a smile on face. Jennings announced him as the new Jeopardy! champion.
“He can’t believe it,” Jennings said.
Contact IndyStar investigative reporter Alexandria Burris at [email protected]. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter, at @allyburris and on Bluesky at@allymburris.bsky.social.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Jeopardy! win for Carmel native Shaan Mishra
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