risk! Winner Joey DeSena has admitted to making an “embarrassing” mistake during tonight's tense episode while competing in the Champions Wildcard tournament.
Thursday's tough game of exciting Jeopardy! The post-season even left host Ken Jennings scratching his head as the game show pro admitted the final clue was too difficult.
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The 2025 Winter Champions Wildcard Tournament continued Thursday with returning winners from previous matches returning to try to expand Jeopardy! biography.
Joey won two matches during Season 41 and has already collected $46,698.
The development engineer from Raleigh, North Carolina, was joined by Eamonn Campbell, a lawyer originally from Manchester, Vermont, and Mahal Shah, a software engineer from Seattle, Washington.
In the first guide to the game, Joey came out swinging as he turned out to be a daily duo.
Under the “History” category, host Ken read the clue: “Before the papal court in the year 1633, he said, ‘I repudiate, curse, and abhor the above-mentioned errors.’”
He correctly answered “Who is Galileo?” – Add $1000 to your total balance from the jump.
Enter into double jeopardy! In the round, Mahal made some quick responses to secure the $6,600 lead.
Joey came in second place with $6,200 while Eamonn remained in third place with $2,800.
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Ken then presented the next round of categories – leading to Joey admitting his “embarrassing” mistake.
Today's game categories are revealed: Storyline, Combined Teams, Travel to the USA, Airplane Group, Do Math, More or Less.
However, it was one class in particular that led to some confusion for the returning champion mid-match.
After the episode aired, Joey went online to share some behind-the-scenes secrets from his time on the Alex Trebek stage.
“Embarrassingly, we were about three clues into this category before I realized that ‘The Jeté Set’ was about ballet, not just asking about random French words,” he wrote.
He continued to share more of his thoughts on the game and expressed his respect for his competitors.
“Nothing but respect for Mihal and Eamonn in this match. Two tremendous competitors (and more importantly, great people) who I enjoyed getting to know during our detention in the morning and later after this match.
“Fun fact: We spent most of our detention time playing Contact and watching The Princess Bride in the Green Room of the Wheel of Fortune – a really crowd-pleasing game.
“Going into the final, I felt good about not needing to bet as much to get a wildcard spot, even if Mahal beat me to win the match.
But betting depends on the denomination. “When I saw the movie Trees, I couldn't bet $0 fast enough,” Joey wrote.
risk! Set secrets
risk! Fans don't see everything behind the scenes by watching on TV. These hidden group features make viewing seamless:
- Each platform has a hidden lever so that all contestants appear to be the same height.
- After each clue is read, signal lights around the game board go off, indicating that players can participate and respond.
- Enter too early, and you'll be locked out for 0.25 seconds.
- The podiums have a small white light in the lower left corner that tells Ken Jennings who to follow.
- Contrary to popular belief, the player controlling the game does not have the bell feature in the following clue.
- To the left of the game board is a scoreboard so players can see their opponents' scores.
- All contestants must bring three costumes to the studio, but only the host and the returning hero change for the next episode.
- There are wardrobe rules, including restrictions on busy patterns, solid whites, purple (as the background), and logos.
- Five episodes are recorded in one day, sometimes more.
- Categories, Players (excluding returning champion), Final Jeopardy! For Ribbon Day they are all drawn randomly to ensure fairness.
- Contestants are asked not to wear makeup that is applied backstage, and not to wear mascara because of sweat.
- Contestants fill out a questionnaire, and producers choose five Q&A topics for the host.
- Host Ken is not allowed to interact with the contestants until after the match is over.
- Players can request to sit on a chair during competition without any questions.
Under the “Trees” category, Ken revealed his Final Jeopardy clue: “Order Arecales, this tree gets its name from Roman times, and a leaf from one was placed in the victor’s hands after winning the contest.”
Everyone had the same response “What is Laurel?” – The three players were wrong in failing to guess “What is a palm tree?”
Risky business
Due to Joey's smart thinking to bet $0, he stayed ahead, finishing the game with $24,000.
Mihal came in second place with $19,600 while Eamonn gave it his all but finished with $0.
Joey gave another secret on set when he revealed that the final clue was so difficult, even Ken was confused.
“The first thing Ken said as the credits rolled was that FJ was tough, and he didn't know it either.
“I can't tell you how much better this made me feel,” he said in his post-match thoughts.
Joey's win sends him into the semi-finals of the Wildcards as tomorrow will be the last quarter-final of the tournament.
However, they are both dangerous! and Wheel of Fortune halted filming this week due to the Los Angeles wildfires, and it's unclear if future broadcasts will be postponed as well.
If you or a loved one has been affected, an expanded list of resources to help humans and animals, as well as an information center and community link for Los Angeles fire victims, can be found at This guide was prepared by the Los Angeles Mutual Aid Network.
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