3/17/2007

in

Three contestants make Jeopardy! history with a three-way tie for $16,000.

elizabeth pusack

This Friday, *Jeopardy!* experienced its first ever three-way tie. Jamey Kirbey, Anders Martinson and Scott Weiss all correctly identified Bonny Parker in answer to the "Women of the 1930s" clue, "One of the men who shot her realized when he saw her body that she'd often waited on him at a cafe in Dallas." Each walked away with $16,000, much to the amazement of Alex Trebek and his international audience. A jeopardy publicist sent out a video tease before the airing of the show, "For the first time in 23 years, *Jeopardy!* history will be made. It was such a remarkable event we consulted a game-theory expert, and he said it may never happen again!" which led to widespread speculation about the mysterious occurrence-the most popular theory was a three way for zero. The chance of a non-zero three-way tie for occurring has been calculated at 1 in 25,000,000. One wonders at the likelihood of Sean Connery appearing as a guest and asking for "Swords for a thousand?"