Decatur Woman Wins on 'Jeopardy!'

DECATUR, GA -- As a retired English teacher, Claudia Stucke had to be happy when Tuesday's Final Jeopardy category was "Classic Children's Book Characters."

And it worked out for her. Stucke, of Decatur, leaped from second-place to first on Tuesday's episode of "Jeopardy!" becoming the second winner from Decatur this week.

Stucke will try to add to her $18,800 in winnings on Wednesday evening's episode of the popular quiz show.

Going into Final Jeopardy, Stucke was in second place, trailing defending champ Melissa Spencer, a physics instructor from Des Moines, Iowa, $10,500 to $9,800.

But Spencer got stumped by the final clue: "The name of this character who lives in a forest is a shortening of an Italian word for a newborn."

Spencer guessed "Gretel." Stucke, on the other hand, knew that the answer (or question, in "Jeopardy!" parlance) was "Bambi."

Her $9,000 wager was plenty to give her the win.

A day earlier, Spencer had defeated Steve Stoffle, a leadership trainer from Decatur, by a single dollar. Stoffle was a one-day champion with winnings of $17,599.

And last week, Brookhaven professor Phillip Tiu had a three-game winning run, tallying almost $100,000.

"Jeopardy!" airs at 7:30 p.m. in Atlanta on 11 Alive, WXIA-TV.

(Photo via Jeopardy.com)