Jeopardy is often filled with some of the smartest minds on the planet, but in recent years, more pop culture categories have made it a much more broad-spectrum kind of game. That's not to say, the contestants still aren't insanely smart.

Case and point, the current champion Ben Goldstein, who is from Michigan. He and his fellow contestants on Monday's episode of Jeopardy struggled with one of the lowest scoring episodes in recent history. But, thankfully, Goldstein came out on top, and can prove his smarts again moving forward.

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Ben Goldstein: Jeopardy Champion

The new champion is originally from Chicago, but now lives in Dexter, Michigan, near Ann Arbor. Goldstein graduated from the University of Michigan in 2002, and works as the Director of Content for an area tech company.

As most Jeopardy contestants do, he said he would play along at home, and realized he was winning more games off the couch. So, he started taking the online tests, and finally got his shot to be a contestant this year.

Goldstein made his debut on the June 16th episode, and was in second place during Final Jeopardy.

The Clue:

"Native Americans called it Okwa-ta, or "Wide Water," Pierre Le Moyne D'iberville would rename it for a countryman."

The Answer:
"Lake Pontchartrain"

All three contestants got the answer wrong, but thankfully, the contestant in first place wagered too much, and fell below Goldstein's total, making him the new champion at $6,198.

Worst Jeopardy Performance Ever

The current season of Jeopardy has been making headlines as of late for the poor performance of the contestants... or maybe it's the category selection?

In fact, in one episode, contestants missed 23 of the clues presented... nearly a THIRD of all the answers were missed. Monday's episode wasn't much better.

After the first round, Goldstein led with just $4,000, the other two contestants only had $2,200 and $400 respectively. But as rough as the first round was, Double Jeopardy was worse... for the other contestants.

Going into Final Jeopardy the scores were Goldstein with $10,000, Mary Kate Gliedt with $100, and Jonathan Belford with $600. So the game was in the bag, assuming he didn't wager everything in Final Jeopardy... which he didn't.

The Clue:

"In 2022, Jeff Bezos awarded her $100 million to give to charitable causes because "she gives with her heart."

The Answer:
"Dolly Parton"  

None of the contestants got it right, and Goldstein had only wagered $1,000, so now his two-day winning total comes to $15,198... a number that some champions carry over from just one episode.

So the contestants (aside from Goldstein) haven't been great as of late, but thankfully, we've got a Michigander holding it down at the top right now.