CULVER CITY, CALIFORNIA: 'Jeopardy!' has a new champ to kick off the final week of Season 39. Taylor Clagett managed to take away the crown for the day and an exciting battle to keep it seems to be on the cards.
Nik Berry, a teacher from Baltimore, Maryland, had to give away his title that he could only keep for a day after winning $9,601 and an additional $1,000 for placing third in the last episode. Meanwhile, Clagett was the only person to get the answer right in the Final Jeopardy round, which gave the contestants a difficult clue.
Who is Taylor Clagett?
According to his 'Jeopardy!' profile, Clagett hails from Chesapeake Beach in Maryland. He is a marketing director at AT&T where he has been working for the past six years. He first joined the company as a manager and has reached a much higher position over the years. He has previously worked with HSBC Commercial Banking. Clagett is a married man. His wife Katie Boone is the director of sales at PepsiCo.
The 37-year-old graduated from DeMatha Catholic High School and went on to study Finance and Anthropology at the Mendoza College of Business in University of Notre Dame. Clagett was part of the lacrosse team at Notre Dame for four years and won a number of faceoffs during his time there. He has continued to be an assistant coach in the sport for the Men's Dutch National Lacrosse Team since 2014.
How did Taylor Clagett win?
Clagett faced returning champ Berry and Ben Sasamoto, an environmental consultant from Minneapolis, Minnesota, for the episode. The Final Jeopardy clue was from the category "Numbers Old & New" and asked for a summation of Roman numerals. While the question was quite simple at first glance, the contestants had to do calculations in their head as they are only provided with the screen and stylus to display their final answers.
This prompted incorrect answers from Berry and Sasamoto while Clagett managed to come up with the correct answer. He had $5,400 on him already and was second on the podium after Sasamoto. He wagered the same amount as his winnings from the first two rounds, doubling his score and landing him in the first spot. Sasamoto, although leading by much, wasn't lucky with his wager and had to make do with a second position.
