Middle guy was going strong and then missed the double jeopardy and thats the rub.. you gotta be able to answer them correct like James for this all in strategy to work...

You'll need a little luck against James on top of aggressively going after the Double Jeopardies, catching him on a night when the categories don't favor him. He was completely shut out of the Shakespeare category the other night.

Does anyone know if there has ever been an episode where 2 of the 3 contestants have negative $ at Final Jeopardy, and thus only one person is playing at the end?

Pretty sure Ken Jennings had at least one like that. I know it's happened.

James can break Jennings' $ record on Monday. $58,485 behind.

You might want to avoid social media about Jeopardy over the next couple days. Just saying...

It's already all over the Net.

Guys... it should be crystal clear...

A ton of spoiler posts were about to fill up this thread even if I hadn't posted, which would have told anyone with a thought that big news had hit.

This is all over other social media and newspapers, anyway. It's virtually impossible keeping pre-recorded content like this secret today unless you live off the grid.

20 minutes from airing and I haven't seen it anywhere but here.

It's on Deadspin, tweeted by Darren Rovell and a billion other sites. Just because you didn't see it, doesn't mean it's not there.

Endgame ended greatly and sadly. GoT ended.

Exactly. My wife doesn't really get this move when people make it, but it's usually smart. Most contestants in first place heading into final Jeopardy bet just enough to win. You'll come across the rare exception, but the smart play is to assume first place will bet whatever it takes to win. In this case, first and second were close. So first had to bet big to win. At that point there are 4 possible outcomes based on the final clue: (1) first place answers correct, second place answers correct; (2) first place answers correct, second place answers incorrect; (3) first place answers incorrect, second place answers correct; and (4) first place answers incorrect, second place answers incorrect. In scenarios (1) and (2), first places wins regardless of what second place does. So the second place bet doesn't matter. It only matters in scenarios (3) and (4). If you bet small, it really doesn't matter if you get the question right. You only win if first place gets it wrong. But by betting small, you win in both scenarios (3) and (4). If you bet big, you only win in scenario (3). Where you get it right, but your opponent gets it wrong. That's possible, but I'm guessing not super common. These are smart people, and most likely the clue is such that either both people get it right or both people get it wrong. So, in the end, you're playing the odds. Which is exactly what a sports gambler should do. The only other concern is to stay ahead of third place.

Ha! We only watch Jeopardy one or two days a week, maximum. But we saw his first and last games.

Now we'll see how his innovations affect future players.

Honestly other than maybe jumping around the board more, I bet not much changes. You still saw players against James picking top to bottom. Not many will have that cuthroat gambling mentality.