{"id":2453904,"date":"2026-06-11T03:04:50","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T03:04:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2453904"},"modified":"2026-06-11T03:04:50","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T03:04:50","slug":"jeopardy-champ-reveals-what-frustrated-her-about-close-game-that-led-to-her-shocking-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/jeopardy-champ-reveals-what-frustrated-her-about-close-game-that-led-to-her-shocking-win\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cJeopardy\u201d champ reveals what &#8216;frustrated&#8217; her about close game that led to her shocking win"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div data-article-body=\"true\">\n<h3 class=\"mb-4 text-lg font-bold\">Key Points<\/h3>\n<ul class=\"mb-4\">\n<li class=\"ml-4 list-disc\">\n<div class=\"\">\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Wednesday&#8217;s new <em>Jeopardy <\/em>champion, Katelyn Mueller-McLean, has aired her frustrations with the game.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"ml-4 list-disc\">\n<div class=\"\">\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Mueller-McLean defeated Tuesday&#8217;s champ, Dan Laine, with a risky wager in &#8220;Final Jeopardy&#8221; that left her with $3,400 in winnings.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"ml-4 list-disc\">\n<div class=\"\">\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Discussing her win the same day on Reddit, she detailed what &#8220;frustrated&#8221; her about the game&#8217;s &#8220;tough board,&#8221; but why she still calls her win a &#8220;10\/10 experience.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Only on <em>Jeopardy <\/em>can a winning wager of $0 still thrill viewers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Wednesday&#8217;s episode of the long-running primetime game show came down to a photo finish between returning champion Dan Laine from Jersey City, AJ Maroney from Boston, and Katelyn Mueller-McLean from San Francisco.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Laine made a tiny bit of <em>Jeopardy <\/em>history the night before, when he upset Peter McFerrin&#8217;s six-game winning streak by taking home gold with only $2,193 \u2014 the lowest final sum of the season thus far. But his reign was brief, when he was bested by one of Wednesday&#8217;s contenders after a $0 wager.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"relative mb-4\">\n<div class=\"relative\"><button aria-label=\"View larger image\" class=\"group absolute bottom-0 size-full\" data-ylk=\"elm:expand;itc:1;sec:image-lightbox;slk:lightbox-open;\"><span class=\"absolute bottom-3 right-3 rounded-full bg-primary p-3 opacity-100 shadow-elevation-3 transition-opacity duration-300 group-hover:block group-hover:opacity-100 md:p-[17px] lg:bottom-6 lg:right-6 lg:bg-primary\/90 lg:p-5 lg:opacity-0 lg:shadow-none\"><svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" viewbox=\"0 0 24 24\" aria-hidden=\"true\" focusable=\"false\" class=\"flex-none size-4 -scale-x-100 text-primary lg:size-6 [&amp;_path]:fill-current\"><path fill=\"currentColor\" d=\"M3.1 3.1V11h1.8V6.314l5.392 5.393 1.415-1.414L6.313 4.9H11V3.1zm17.8 17.8V13h-1.8v4.686l-5.393-5.393-1.415 1.414 5.393 5.393H13v1.8z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/button><dialog aria-label=\"Modal Dialog\" aria-modal=\"true\" class=\"fixed bottom-0 left-0 right-0 top-0 z-4 size-full max-h-none max-w-none bg-primary hidden\"\/><\/div><figcaption class=\"relative text-sm mt-1 pr-2.5\">\n<p><i>Dan Lane, AJ Maroney, and Katelyn Mueller-McLean on &#8216;Jeopardy&#8217;<br \/>Credit: Jeopardy.com<\/i><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">After a stiff competition through round after round of unforgiving clues, Maroney headed into &#8220;Final Jeopardy&#8221; in the lead with just $4,400. Laine trailed behind him with $3,600, and Mueller-McLane followed in last with $3,400.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The &#8220;Final Jeopardy&#8221; clue for the category &#8220;Heading North&#8221; was read: &#8220;If you want to visit the world&#8217;s northernmost town, know that most flights are three hours to or from this national capital.&#8221; None of Wednesday&#8217;s contested responded with the correct answer, Oslo.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Maroney guessed Moscow, losing $2,801 and leaving him with $1,599. Laine guessed Helsinki, which took $807 from his total, to round him out at $2,793. It wasn&#8217;t looking good for Mueller-McLean heading into &#8220;Final Jeopardy,&#8221; but her incorrect guess of Reykjavik didn&#8217;t cost her a dime after a $0 wager, leading to her victory.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Mueller-McLean broke down the highs and lows of the day in response to questions on the official <em>Jeopardy <\/em>Reddit sub, under a thread dedicated to Wednesday&#8217;s episode.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;Still can&#8217;t believe this wasn&#8217;t just some crazy dream I had. 10\/10 experience, and everyone on the staff and crew are absolute angels,&#8221; she wrote.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The accessibility audio producer praised Laine and Maroney as &#8220;great competitors \u2014 this was such a close game and it really could have gone to any one of us in the end.&#8221; She then detailed the game&#8217;s difficulties.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\"><strong><em>Get your daily dose of entertainment news, celebrity updates, and what to watch with our\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/ew.com\/ew-dispatch-newsletter-11812417\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:EW Dispatch newsletter;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;EW Dispatch newsletter&quot;}\" class=\"link \"><strong><em>EW Dispatch newsletter<\/em><\/strong><\/a><strong>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;I know I\u2019m biased but this was a <em>tough<\/em> board. I&#8217;m as frustrated as anyone by the number of Triple Stumpers we had today. We were all clearly less than thrilled about FIFA, but at least we answered a couple of those correctly. Nothing worse than going viral for knowing zero about sports,&#8221; she wrote. In the Mythology category, Mueller-McLean wrote that she&#8217;d &#8220;realized I&#8217;d made a mistake a couple milliseconds after hitting the buzzer, and had no choice but to eat that loss.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Ultimately, Mueller-McLean said she&#8217;s &#8220;kind of still absorbing&#8221; her win, which she described as &#8220;a surreal cherry on top of one of the best days of my life.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Read the original article on <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/ew.com\/jeopardy-champ-was-frustrated-about-close-game-that-led-to-shocking-win-11995492\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:Entertainment Weekly;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Entertainment Weekly&quot;}\" class=\"link \">Entertainment Weekly<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Key Points Wednesday&#8217;s new Jeopardy champion, Katelyn Mueller-McLean, has aired her frustrations with the game. Mueller-McLean defeated Tuesday&#8217;s champ, Dan Laine, with a risky wager in &#8220;Final Jeopardy&#8221; that left her with $3,400 in winnings. Discussing her win the same day on Reddit, she detailed what &#8220;frustrated&#8221; her about the game&#8217;s &#8220;tough board,&#8221; but why [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2453905,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[482264,366415,482265],"class_list":["post-2453904","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-dan-laine","tag-final-jeopardy","tag-katelyn-mueller-mclean"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Jeopardy-champ-reveals-what-frustrated-her-about-close-game-that.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2453904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2453904"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2453904\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2453906,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2453904\/revisions\/2453906"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2453905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2453904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2453904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2453904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}