“Jeopardy!” fans were left divided after a contestant’s winning answer had an unexpected tie to her famous ancestor.
On Monday’s episode of the long-running NBC game show, one of the three contestants, Emily Croke, answered a question correctly and became champion — after being given a clue by host Ken Jennings referring to an ancestor of hers.
The prompt read: “In 1895, the Vassar-educated wife of this man wrote, ‘Thousands of dollars may be paid for a copy of Shakespeare.’”
Croke wrote down the correct answer, “Folger,” prompting Jennings to ask her about her decision.
She replied that the woman referred to in the clue Jennings gave her had been her “great, great, great-aunt Emily.”
A stunned Jennings asked the contestant, “Emily Folger, the one we mentioned in the clue is the person you, Emily Croke, are named after?” in a viral clip shared by the official “Jeopardy!” Instagram account.
“Yes,” Croke said, nodding several times, to which Jennings responded, “Wow.”
Croke ended up winning the game thanks to the final clue, ending her run with a total of $13,201. She is set to return to see if she can continue her winning streak.
Emily Folger, co-founder of the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC, the world’s largest collection of the playwright’s works, created the library along with her husband, Standard Oil chairman Henry Clay Folger.
Croke’s luck was dubbed “the most amazing coincidence in the history of ‘Jeopardy!’” by one commenter on the clip.
“What are the odds of that happening?” a second commenter asked.
“Was in the audience for this one. It truly surprised everyone,” a third wrote.
Others felt the question was unfair on the other contestants.
“How is anyone not a family member supposed to deduce the correct reply? What am I missing?” one wrote.
Another added that it was “not fair” and said Croke should be “disqualified.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
