JEOPARDY! Super-champion Ray LaLonde, who dropped on Tuesday after 13 victories and $386K in earnings, has had quite the impact on one rival.
The fact that Emily Kawaler almost defeated Ray herself revealed how compassionate he was off stage.
Jeopardy! A bioinformatician from New York, contestant Emily Kawaler, narrowly lost to champion Ray before he also lost.
Before he finally won for the eleventh time, the lead alternated between Ray and Emily.
It was an exciting episode because Emily missed the final question even though she was ahead at $14,200.
The most recent game show champion’s former bitter rival, who lost to her three games later in the same final round, admitted the streak-holder won her over before they even started playing.
“When I arrived on the #Jeopardy set, I was super anxious,” Emily posted to Twitter.
“But the guy sitting in front of me turned right around and started chatting.
“He was friendly and welcoming and I immediately imprinted on him like a baby duckling. That man was, of course, Ray Lalonde.”
Was there any extra pressure or terror felt by the other competitors once he was revealed as a champion? a user asked in response.
Emily wrote back: “I actually met him before knowing any of that!” and he “humbly” revealed he was a winner to her.
“He was so nice it was hard to be intimidated by him, but really we should have been!”
One user applauded: “That’s the Canadian in him. It’s in our genes. You certainly gave him a run for his money!”
“So sweet thanks for sharing,” wrote another.
Even if many spectators didn’t want to see Ray lose on Tuesday, the defeat was one for the history books.
Going into Final Jeopardy, he and the other two players were within $1K of one another. All three were right, with Ray losing by just $456.
In reality, the TV set designer from Ontario, Canada, won a lot of his shows by the tiniest of margins, which made for excellent television.
Ray, who admitted to watching Jeopardy! since its first host Art Fleming, went 12/14 in Final Jeopardy instead of “Daily Double” hunting like 21-time champion Cris Pannullo from earlier this season.
He won his thirteenth game by a razor-thin $100, and his game with Emily was no different.
Also, The U.S. Sun was told privately that, unlike Ray, Cris had not spoken to anyone before to his games.
