Stalwart “Jeopardy!” fans tuning in to the quiz show Wednesday night likely thought, at least for a few seconds, that the episode was a rerun.
If Ron Lalonde, a medical physicist from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, looked familiar, it’s because his identical twin brother, Ray, made an impressive 13-game run on the show nearly three years ago, claiming the title of super-champion (a player who wins at least 10 games) and going on to compete in the 2023 Tournament of Champions.
“Your twin brother, Ron, called you the real ‘Jeopardy!’ talent in the family,” host Ken Jennings said to the first-time contestant Wednesday night. “And here you are.”
“Those are big shoes, though,” Jennings continued.
“Very big, yes,” Lalonde responded. “No pressure at all.”
After Jennings jokingly suggested that it was really Ray Lalonde on the Alex Trebek Stage taking a second crack at a “Jeopardy!” run, Ron revealed that his twin was in the audience.
And apparently being a savvy “Jeopardy!” player runs in the family.
Ron Lalonde wins 2nd ‘Jeopardy!’ game, joins twin brother as champion
Competing against Libby Jones, a two-game champion who defeated 14-game super-champion Harrison Whitaker, Ron Lalonde had his work cut out for him in his “Jeopardy!” debut.
Jones started off strong and had more than double Lalonde’s total at the end of the first round, per “Jeopardy!” archives. But during the Double Jeopardy round, she missed a Daily Double and lost $4,000, keeping the game more in reach for Lalonde.
Going into the Final Jeopardy round, Lalonde trailed Jones by $4,000 (the other player, Sarah Murphy, wasn’t able to participate in the final round due to being $400 in the red).
It all came down to the Final Jeopardy clue: “In NYC’s Cathedral of St. John the Divine, an alcove with memorials to Hart Crane, Sylvia Plath and 54 others is the ‘American’ this.”
Jennings revealed Lalonde’s response first: “What is ‘Poet’s Corner’?”
The correct response, and corresponding wager of $4,001, brought Lalonde to $15,201 — just $1 more than Jones.
And then Jennings turned to Jones. Her response: “What is poet?”
The answer dropped Jones down to $7,999. So in a come-from-behind moment, Lalonde won his first game and joined his brother as a “Jeopardy!” champion.
Lalonde dominated his second “Jeopardy!” game Thursday night. Going into the Final Jeopardy round, he had $24,400 and couldn’t be caught — the contestant in second place had $5,400.
Now, Lalonde is a two-game champ and will seek his third win Friday night.
When did Ray Lalonde compete on ‘Jeopardy!’?
Ray Lalonde started his “Jeopardy!” winning streak in December 2022 and lost his 14th game by just $490 on Jan. 3, 2023, the Deseret News previously reported.
The scenic artist from Toronto, Canada, accrued nearly $400,000 throughout his run.
“I cannot believe it,” Lalonde told “Jeopardy!” after his fifth win. “A little while back I won my first game and I thought: ‘That’s it — I’ve done everything I wanted to. This is fabulous; I can dine on this for the rest of my life.’”
During his “Jeopardy!” run, Lalonde only missed two Final Jeopardy questions (answers are at the very bottom of the article), per Deseret News:
- Classic songs: “The shouts of excited children at a 1946 holiday parade are said to have inspired this perennial favorite.”
- Brand names: “Unable to make these candies perfectly round, the confectioner embraced this flawed name for the product.”
Lalonde qualified for the 2023 Tournament of Champions, and lost in the quarterfinals to comedian Ike Barinholtz — the first celebrity to compete in the tournament.
Ahead of the tournament, Lalonde spoke out in support of the writers strike and informed “Jeopardy!” producers he wouldn’t participate until the matter was resolved, as the Deseret News reported.
(Answers: “Here Comes Santa Claus”; milk duds)
