Will a Jeopardy! spouse take down a reigning champion? Caleb Groen, from Thousand Oaks, California, entered his third game against a woman who knows a bit about Jeopardy! and the game show world in general.
Groen, who entered the July 9 game with a two-day total of $31,199, played against Lee Ann McGuire Whitlock. If that last name sounds familiar to you, it is because she is the wife of Shane Whitlock, who won the College Championship and lost the TOC and Ultimate TOC. He returned to the Jeopardy! universe in February 2025 when he competed in the Jeopardy! Invitational Tournament, where he lost in the first semifinal game.
Shane also competed in Season 2 of Pop Culture Jeopardy! and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? in 2009. Lee Ann appeared on Millionaire two months before her husband. They both lost on the $25,000 question, according to Fandom.com.
Groen, a law and policy student, and Whitlock, from North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, played against Owen Harrington, from Chicago, Illinois. Warning: Spoilers for the July 6 episode of Jeopardy! ahead!
Groen dominated the first half of the first round. He had $4,400 by clue nine when Harrington, a union organizer and Ph.D. candidate, found the Daily Double.
Harrington was in the red, but just got to $0 by clue nine. He wagered the allotted $1,000 in “Isle 5.”
The clue was, “This Greek archipelago is so named because it forms a rough circle around the island of Delos.” “What is the Delian?” he answered incorrectly with a sigh. The correct response was the Cyclades, so he dropped to -$1,000.
By the end of the round, Groen had $8,600. Harrington got back on the board with $2,600. Whitlock was in third place with $0.
In Double Jeopardy, the champion had $13,000 when he found the first DD on clue four. He wagered $5,000 in “Biology.” The clue was, “The Latin for sleep gives us this term for a period when plants don’t grow, or organisms slow their metabolisms to guard resources.”
“What is dormancy?” he answered correctly. Groen took a big lead with $18,000.
Groen continued to dominate the round. He had $30,800 when he found the final DD on clue 19.
The champion wagered $8,000 in “Words from Arabic.” The clue read, “These nomadic people take their name from an Arabic word for ‘a dweller in the desert.’”
“Who are the Bedouin?” Groen answered correctly. This gave him $38,800. With a little hiccup at the end of the round, Groen ended with the same amount.
Harrington had $1,400. Whitlock had -$2,400 and could not participate in Final Jeopardy. “Building Projects” was the category for the final clue.
The clue was “An unofficial ‘race’ between Japanese & Korean firms led to the construction of these, well southwest of both nations.” Neither game show contestant guessed Petronas Towers.
Harrington’s response was “What are building projects?” He wagered $2, leaving him with $1,398. Groen wrote, “What is…Islands?” He wagered $20,000, giving him $18,800.
That gave Groen a three-day total of $49,999. He will return on Tuesday for his fourth game.
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