There was a long moment of silence between Alex Trebek’s Daily Double question and the answer uttered by Philip Tiu during last Tuesday’s episode of Jeopardy!
The math professor from Oglethorpe University in Atlanta, Georgia was asked to named the city based on the following description: “The country’s busiest port, the southwestern Canadian city is about 15 miles from the U.S. border.”
With a $19,000 stake on the question, Tiu’s single answer of “What is Vancouver?” pushed him from $19,600 to $38,600 and he ultimately ended this second consecutive appearance on top with $49,900.
Here’s Vancouver’s moment on video:
Philip lands on a Daily Double that gave him a big lead. Check out his $19,000 wager:https://t.co/kjvIsl0FYs
— Jeopardy! (@Jeopardy) March 16, 2016
However, Tiu was unable to extend his victory streak in his fourth appearance later in the week. He lost on Thursday, but was still able to take home a combined $96,598 from his earlier appearances.
In June 2015, Jeopardy! included a category called “Canadian cities”, which was not touched by the competitors until every other category had been completely exhausted. None of the competitors were able to get any of the Canadian city descriptions right:
- $400: “In 1992, this city’s velodrome once used in the Olympic Games, was transformed into an environmental biodome” (Montreal, Quebec)
- $800: “Residents of this Saskatchewan city are called Moose Javians” (Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan)
- $1,200: “The swan is a symbol of this Ontario city; each year, white and black swans are released into the Avon River” (Stratford, Ontario)
- $1,600: “An intersection in this provincial capital is the original western terminus of the Trans-Canada Highway” (Victoria, B.C.)
- $2,000: “This Alberta resort was the first municipality to be incorporated within a Canadian national park” (Banff, Alberta)
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As of this year, after seeing hundreds of contestants compete on the show over the decades, Canadians are no longer eligible to compete in Jeopardy!
The reasons provided to justify the ban are unclear, but there is speculation that it might have something to do with the federal government’s recently implemented digital privacy and anti-spam laws.