Jeopardy fans are calling out a contestant from the Tournament of Champions on social media. Following the second night of the semi-finals, viewers called out Ryan Bilger for being a "sore loser" when fellow contestant, Veronica Vichit-Vadanka, was ultimately the one who made it through to the finals when they both answered a question correctly.
The alleged diss came during the Final Jeopardy question, which was from the category 'Nobel-winning Authors.' The contestants had to solve the following clue: "Falsely accused of murder, a character in his 1948 novel becomes 'tyrant over the whole county's White conscience.'" While the third contestant, Kevin Walsh, answered incorrectly, Bilger and Vichit-Vadanka both gave the correct answer—Faulkner.
Unfortunately for Bilger, he only wagered $2,402 on the answer. This put him at $16,002. Vichit-Vadanka, however, already had the lead with $16,000. She then went on to wager $15,400 on her answer. This gave her an even more significant lead over her competitors with $31,4000 at the end of the round.
As Vichit-Vadanka was announced as the finalist, the camera panned out to show Bilger and Walsh. Bilger could be seen lightly clapping and looking down. Many viewers felt his reaction was rude and shared those thoughts online.
"Ryan was a bit of a drama queen," one fan tweeted. "His lack of graciousness in defeat was astounding. Glad to see him go," another added. One viewer even believes guest host Buzzy Cohen "looked sideways at Ryan as he kept his eyes down and sulked."
Though many fans were disappointed by Bilger's on-camera reaction, he did send out a congratulatory tweet to the victor after the show. "Veronica played a brilliant game and is an amazing human to boot! Big congratulations to her on the win, and make sure to tune in Thursday and Friday to watch her again in the finals!" he wrote.
Bilger first appeared on Jeopardy! back in 2019, earning more than $100,000 over the course of four games.
Photo: Jeopardy!