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Zoe Grobman’s Jeopardy! journey took an unexpected turn –– all thanks to a costly mispronunciation.
The Tuesday, January 7 episode of the beloved game show featured a tense and memorable showdown between returning players Zoe Grobman, Josh Heit, and Enzo Cunanan in the Second Chance Tournament. While the match ended with Cunanan in first, Grobman in second, and Heit in third, it was Grobman’s misstep during the third Daily Double that generated some conversation.
The clue from the “Potent Quotables” category asked for a pale dry sherry mentioned in an Edgar Allan Poe tale, to which the correct response was “What is Amontillado?” However, Grobman’s pronunciation caused her to lose $6,000, a misstep she reflected on heavily after the game.
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In a Reddit comment after the episode aired, Grobman shared her frustration with the situation: “I have some strong emotions about a mispronunciation costing me at least $12,000 and two more games of Jeopardy.” Despite the setback, Grobman explained that going big on the Daily Double was the right strategy against two fast competitors like Josh and Enzo. “Live by the DD, Die by the DD,” she quipped, acknowledging that had she bet smaller, her chances of winning would’ve been slim regardless of the pronunciation error.
Heading into Final Jeopardy, Grobman’s score was $6,600, Cunanan’s was $15,600, and Heit’s was $9,600. Unfortunately, despite her best efforts, Cunanan answered correctly and clinched the win with a final score of $19,400. “I thought I might have pulled this off,” Grobman admitted. “Unfortunately for me, Enzo managed to change his answer in time.”
Grobman’s initial appearance on Jeopardy! back in October 2024 wasn’t quite the smooth start she had hoped for. Competing against contestants Eamonn Campbell and Rishabh Wuppalapati, Grobman, a therapist from Philadelphia, quickly realized she had tough competition. She shared in a Reddit post, “After watching everyone play the practice games I knew there were two players I really didn’t want to face: Eamonn and Rishabh,” noting that Wuppalapati was particularly impressive in the green room.
Despite the nerves, Grobman finished in second place, but in hindsight, she found that studying buzzer techniques was far more helpful than the educational topics she had prepared for. “I studied a lot of topics but nothing came up in the game.”
