Tyler Combs had a rough night on the first episode of the two-part “Jeopardy!” College Championship on Thursday night, ending the game with just $200.
Another competitor ended with $800 while the winner ended with an impressive $22,195.
All is not lost for Combs, a Greenfield-Central grad and Indiana University senior. The two-part final is determined by adding the contestants’ scores from both nights.
The second and final round airs at 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 17 on WTHR-TV (Channel 13).
Combs fared far better in his first two “Jeopardy!” appearances, which he won handily – finishing with $28,400 in his first appearance to advance to the semi-finals, then $32,800 to advance to the finals.
In the finals, he’s competing against Xiaoke Ying, a sophomore at the University of Southern California, and Nibir Sarma, a sophomore at the University of Minnesota.
The scores of all three competitors were all roughly $3,000 apart going into the Double Jeopardy round, where Combs’ strategy seemed to be going for the big-ticket, $2,000 questions at the bottom of the board.
Sarma, from the University of Minnesota, hit a hot streak and pulled ahead considerably going into Final Jeopardy, when he led with $25,200 compared to Combs’ score of $5,200 and Ying’s score of $8,800.
All three contestants missed the Final Jeopardy question.
Going into the two-part finale, Combs said the finals would offer some intense excitement over the course of two nights. Tune in Friday to see who is crowned the College Championship winner.
