'Jeopardy' Contestant Details 'Difficult' Final Question After Unexpected Defeat

'Jeopardy'

Jeopardy! contestant Nam Nguyen is looking back on the tricky clue that ended up costing him the game.

Nguyen, a playwright from Mississauga, Ontario, was one of the three contestants on the Monday, April 22 episode of Jeopardy!, during which he was in the lead for the entire game—until it came time for Final Jeopardy.

Going into the final round, Nguyen had a whopping $17, 600, while his competitors Mark Lashley and Lianne Schaffer had $9,000 and $7,000 respectively, But in a major upset, Nguyen didn't end up on top after being the only one to guess the Final Jeopardy question incorrectly.

Nguyen later discussed his downfall on the Jeopardy Reddit discussion forum, where he said that even host Ken Jennings found the Final Jeopardy clue to be "pretty difficult."

The clue, in the category "Business," read: "In the 1950s the .925 sterling silver standard was instituted by this company, the first American one to do so." While Lashley and Schaffer both came up with the correct response—"What is Tiffany & Co.?—Nguyen wasn't as successful, instead writing "What is Wells Fargo?" as his answer.

Taking to Reddit after the show, Hguyen offered "a bit of my life story" to explain why he missed the question, despite his stellar performance earlier in the game.

"I didn’t grow up in a family where luxury brands (esp. bling) were top of mind," he explained in his post. "Hell, my dad was in a Vietnamese refugee camp when he was my age!"

“We’re financially stable now," he clarified while noting, “But I’ve still never shaken the mindset that anything that goes on my body is utilitarian-first, without judgment against people who do make art of how they look every day."

But even though he didn't come out on top at the end of the game, Nguyen was inspired after the show to take his first trip to Tiffany's, where he saw the words ".925 sterling silver" for the first time in his life.

"That's how it goes," he wrote while giving credit to his competitor, Lashley, who got to take home the win on Monday's show.

Next: 'Jeopardy!' Fans Bash Confusing Clue That Led to a Triple Miss