Could 'Jeopardy!' Hero-Villain Arthur Chu Come Back from Last Place?
Controversial 11-time champ finds self third heading into "Final Jeopardy!"
March 12, 2014 — -- After controversial "Jeopardy!" champ Arthur Chu rolled to 11 straight wins and the third-biggest cash winnings in the history of the game show, the #ChuChuTrain finally has been derailed.
The new champ, Diana Peloquin, a graduate student and former synchronized swimmer from Ann Arbor, Mich., gave Chu a taste of his own medicine, using many of the unconventional strategies that the game theory-loving Chu used throughout his winning run -- strategies that inspired Chu's fans and prompted some "Jeopardy!" traditionalists to dub him the "Jeopardy!" villain.
Both Peloquin and Julie Hornick, a middle school librarian from South Carolina, jumped around the game board out of the conventional playing order and played higher-value squares first. In the style of Chu, Peloquin even scooped up the first two "Daily Doubles," bet big and won to build up her lead.
Chu, 30, an insurance compliance worker and voice-over actor from Broadview Heights, Ohio, did manage to secure the final "Double Jeopardy" question, but this time a big bet cost him. He bet all $7,600 he had and ended up at $0, leaving him more than $11,000 behind the leader, Peloquin.
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Going into "Final Jeopardy!" Chu, who has been live tweeting his winning streak and retweeting his haters as the show's pre-taped episodes air, found himself in the position those haters have been wishing for -- last place. Peloquin had $12,100, Hornick had $7,800 and Chu only had $6,400.
Chu bet it all and flubbed the "Final Jeopardy!" clue: "He was the last male monarch who had not previously been Prince of Wales."
Chu guessed George II, and was left with $0.
Hornick guessed George V, also wrong. But Peloquin got the right answer, George VI, and ended up with $15,700 to become the new champ.
On his Twitter feed, Chu noted that Peloquin had watched him from the sidelines, so perhaps she was not as surprised by his tactics.
Peloquin told the Michigan website mlive.com that she did, indeed, take note of Chu's different style of play.
"I was really interested in his playing style," she told the site. "I wanted to engage with that. ... And I had lots of time to study."
Chu will appear on ABC News' "Good Morning America" Thursday morning to talk about his controversial winning streak and the end of his run. He finished with total winnings of $297,200.