Jeopardy! host Ken Jennings mocks a contestant for betting strange amounts on Daily Doubles in speci

JEOPARDY!'s Ken Jennings has mocked contestant James Fraser for betting strange dollar amounts on Daily Doubles, as the host shaded multiple times on Thursday's episode.

The three past players were performing at their peak in part one of the finals in the Second Chance Tournament.

Tonight, the California-based naval aviator wonderfully dressed in his uniform - faced Molly Karol - an Austin, Texas CPA - and Jessica Stephens - a Nashville, Tennessee-based research specialist.

James landed on a Daily Double - one of the three randomly placed clues on the board where players can wager from their earnings.

He had $6,600 and was just shy of first place.

"You've been nipping at Jessica's heels all game you can take the lead," the host said.

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Ken replied: "Alright, just to make it fun on the scorekeeper."

He didn't get it correct this time and the host replied: "That knocks you down to $14330, apparently," with a touch of sarcasm as he seemed unsure of the math James was doing.

The crowd nervously laughed as Ken made as much painfully clear.

GAME WITH NO WINNER

Going into Final Jeopardy, James had $19,930, Jessica $15,600 and Molly $10,400.

Final Jeopardy read: "2 of the 3 countries that share land borders with Russia & China."

The correct response was "What are [two of the following three] Mongolia, North Korea and Kazakhstan?"

All three players who played fantastically, fiercely going at the buzzer with something to prove all game, were correct.

James lept to $30,929, Jessica to $28,600, and Molly to 15,600.

However, in a rare event - there was no winner declared, that's because tournament play is a little different.

As Ken revealed: "Let me remind you this is a two-day total point affair in the immortal words of Alex Trebek”

The show is now airing something quite interesting instead of regular episodes.

The three contestants - who each won earlier this week - will have their scores tomorrow added to their final totals.

Starting from zero tomorrow night, whoever has the highest combined amount over the two will win and score an invite to the Tournament of Champions.

Whoever gets 3rd place will go home with 10K, 2nd place 20K and 1st place 35K as well as that special slot.

It's a lot to comprehend but this is Jeopardy!.

'WHAT A GAME!'

Fans loved the extremely close game where all three are in it going into tomorrow, as one wrote YouTube: "So close!!"

"What a show" wrote another.

A third gushed: "Finally. A second part of a 2 game final will actually be competitive."

A fourth agreed: "Second Chance Tournament is brilliant. Glad to see all of the great contestants get another shot."

Any of the three on-screen could win tomorrow and be the one (of two) former losers who will then go to the Tournament of Champions.

WAIT A SECOND (CHANCE)

These three players may seem like familiar faces because they are - they've competed before and scored the rare opportunity.

Starting on Monday, 18 power players that nearly, but didn’t, win during their first Jeopardy! games last year were invited back for the two-week Second Chance Tournament.

All contenders were chosen because the show felt they, especially, deserved a second chance - the tournament has never been done before.

Tomorrow, after one of the three is declared the winner with the highest total, the slate will be wiped clean and nine more formerly snubbed players will enter.

The two winners of the two week-long brackets can then beat super-champs like Amy Schenider, Matt Amodio, Mattea Roach and Ryan Long - or the legends they lost to.

The following prestigious playoffs, which are worth $250K, air directly afterward on October 31st.

When both conclude, regular episodes and reigning ace Cris Pannullo will return in a month.

Other contestants fans will see soon include fan-favorite Sadie Goldberger - whose shock loss to Megan Wachpress on June 20th came down to a controversial ruling from the judges.

Hundreds felt Sadie was "robbed" as she would have won had the show ruled in her favor during Final Jeopardy.

The show has stood by that her otherwise correct Final Jeopardy response of "Harriet Tubman" was "incomplete" with but an "n" missing - hundreds were left upset calling it the season's "most painful loss".

Both tournaments will be hosted by Ken and will air at the usual time of 7 p.m. on ABC.

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