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Katie Wroblewski, a Ypsilanti resident and U-M history grad student, came up short in her second "Jeopardy!" appearance. Courtesy photo.
U-M history graduate student and Ypsilanti resident Katie Wroblewski looked like she just might pull off a second come-from-behind win on the "Jeopardy!" episode that aired Friday night, but in the end, despite being the only contestant to respond to the Final Jeopardy clue correctly, she came up just short.
Her contestants Friday were a health aide from New York City, Winston Nguyen, and an astrophysicist from Pasadena, California, Jeff Filipplini.
During the contestant introduction, Wroblewski talked about how she lettered in boys' tennis in high school, because Buchanan, Michigan had a small enough school that there wasn't a girls' tennis team. Trebek remarked that she must have enjoyed defeating boys.
"It was awesome," said Wroblewski.
"Same deal on 'Jeopardy!', right?" Trebek said.
"Yes."
After going into negative digits in the game's first round, Wroblewski, with the final clue, reached the $800 mark, while Filippini led with $4,400, with Nguyen in second with $3,200.
By the end of the second round, Nguyen led with $13,400; Filippini had earned $10,300; and Wroblewski finished with $4,800.
The Final Jeopardy category was Famous Homes, and the clue was: "Purchased in 1957 and called ‘the second most famous home in America,’ it was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2006."
Wroblewski answered correctly, “What is Graceland?” and bet $4,700, bringing her final total to $9,500.
Filippini guessed “Waterfall House” and lost $2,101, leaving him with $8,198.
Nguyen wrote "South Fork," also known as the Ewing ranch on “Dallas,” and lost $3,333, but he still had $10,067, which was enough to win the day, and make him the returning champion when the next season of "Jeopardy!" kicks off in approximately 6 weeks' time.
Jenn McKee is an entertainment reporter for The Ann Arbor News. Reach her at [email protected] or 734-623-2546, and follow her on Twitter @jennmckee.