He's good even when he loses.
Matt Jackson, the 23-year-old D.C. paralegal who took Jeopardy! by storm with his awkward smiles, Daily Double catchphrases and 13 consecutive victories, finally met his end on Wednesday. He finished with $411,612 in cash, good for fourth place on the all-time regular season winnings chart (behind Ken Jennings, Dave Madden and Julia Collins).
Somehow, after having crushed so many previous opponents, Jackson entered Wednesday's Final Jeopardy with only a $200 lead over Michael Baker, a travel media editor from New York City. The clue was: "For its 50th anniversary in 2012, the roof of this landmark was temporarily repainted its original color, Galaxy Gold."
No one had the correct response -- the Space Needle in Seattle. And Jackson bet nearly everything, handing Baker the win.
But even in defeat, Jackson showed class. Toward the end of the first round, he buzzed in to respond to a clue about a two-letter French word meaning "with the." He said "al," but due to the pronunciation, host Alex Trebek thought he had given the correct response, "au," so Jackson picked up $800. Then, during the commercial break, Jackson himself told the judges that he had meant to say "al," knowing that his admission would cost him $1,600.
"Kudos to our champion," Trebek said in announcing the scoring change. Kudos indeed.