"Very surprised": Jeopardy! fans discuss Kelly Gates' performance and her "small wager" during non-fiction category

Jeopardy!
Jeopardy! October 21, 2024 Episode - Kelly Gates with $500 Wager | Image Source: YouTube/ @Jeopardy!

On the October 21, 2024, episode of Jeopardy! fans saw how one of the returning players, Kelly Gates, wagered a "small" amount during Final Jeopardy. After learning that, some fans shared their views on Kelly's wager.

While some of the fans shared, Kelly thought of "playing it safe" while others were "very surprised." Fans must remember Kelly Gates, a librarian who hails from Massachusetts and is one of the returning champions on Jeopardy!

During the latest Jeopardy! episode, the final round resulted in a new champion, Tristan Brown. It was because Kelly only wagered a small amount, i.e., $500, and the opponent had a huge wager for the same question. The opponent Tristan's final score, as a result, was $22,700.

Reacting to that, Jeopardy! fans took to Reddit and shared their views on the wagers during the latest game episode.

Comment byu/jaysjep2 from discussion inJeopardy

Alert-Stop-2671 shared,

"Don't know that it would have changed anything, but was very surprised that Kelly, a librarian, put such a small wager on DD3 in a "non-fiction" category."

Kellwhynot (aka Kelly) was also part of the discussion, and she shared which categories she was looking forward to,

"I was so excited about fashion, rom drams, and pop music!"

Another fan, Odd_Manufacturer_963, also talked about various Jeopardy! categories, and shared,

"Fun promo category about We Live in Time. I look forward to Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh's sequel, We Live in a Society."

To that, Aimeeheath replied, shedding more light on the categories,

"I remember being so happy that you kept going back to the rom drams category. I feel like players will often avoid the celebrity-presented categories to save time, but I think they're fun!!"

Reginaomnis commented and shared how literature/ book trivia might not be Kelly's "strength" category even though she works as a librarian.

"Being a librarian does not necessarily mean that literature/book trivia is her biggest strength. Also, a lot of the time, clues about non-fiction books on Jeopardy does not tend to require you to know the title or author of a book cold, but to have some knowledge about its topic that leads you to the answer. So for that reason I agree she could have bet more, not that she happened to be a librarian."

After-Sprinkles-1769 shared appreciation for Tristan and reacted to the Jeopardy! score,

"Happy for Tristan but I'm a bit surprised at that scoring correction. Seems like less flattering pins it to junk bonds."

Referring to Kelly's "wager," another user, Jaysjep2, shared about the "risk" and investment aspect,

"Agreed. "High-risk" isn't an unflattering term, just a statement about the nature of the investment."

To that, Ridingzani replied,

"I'm not an investment expert, but whenever I say something is risky, I'm not looking at it in a positive light. "Junk" fits better but I feel like that alternate answer is close enough."

Jaysjep2 continued with another reply related to profit and investment,

"If you want a chance to make a larger profit with an investment, you generally have to take more risk. In a balanced portfolio, some "high-risk" investments are often appropriate. It's neither a positive or negative term."

The same discussion continued, and Ridingzani talked about "high-risk investment,"

"I guess what it means for a term to be "positive or negative" is a bit subjective. Even if "high-risk investment" is used neutrally, its connotation is slightly negative."

Seeing many fans discussing how Kelly's bigger wager might have made a difference, she (as Kellwhynot) shared how she does not do well with "non-fiction" since she doesn't "read much."

"I was kicking myself when I got it right, but I don’t read much nonfiction! It makes me feel better that I would have lost in FJ anyway."

What happened during Jeopardy! October 21, 2024 episode?

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The recent game show episode started with three players,

  • Tristan Brown from Richmond, Virginia,
  • Kelly Gates from Medford, Massachusetts,
  • Marcus Ghiringhelli from Portland, Oregon.

Before entering Double Jeopardy, Kelly had $5,200, Tristan's score was $3,800, and Marcus's total was $3,000.

The Final Jeopardy presented a question from "Italian words and Phrases," which only one player guessed correctly. It was Tristan Brown.

By the end of the episode, $8,100 was added to his profits, and Tristan's total was $22,700, which made him a new champion. Kelly's score was $10,800, while Marcus's was $3,300.

Seeing such events and a new champion emerging from the game, fans took to Reddit and shared their views on how small wagers during the initial and final categories could affect the game.


Fans can stream the latest Jeopardy! episodes on their regional network channels on weekdays.

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Edited by Sarah Nazamuddin Harniswala