Jeopardy!'s Ken Jennings accuses contestant of 'gaslighting' after she reveals wild story about bein

JEOPARDY! host Ken Jennings has jokingly accused a contestant of "gaslighting" after she told a wild story on Tuesday's episode.

The game show is now airing its special Second Chance competition instead of regular episodes.

Alicia O’Hare - a Long Beach, New York-based social worker -faced Tom Philipose - a Queens-based writing professor - and Jack Weller, a law student from San Diego, California.

The three players may seem like familiar faces because they are - they've competed before and scored a rare opportunity.

Starting last Monday, 18 power players that nearly won during their first Jeopardy! games last year were invited back for the two-week redemption games - which have never been done before.

The contenders were chosen because the show felt they, especially, deserved a second chance - and Alicia revealed she lost it when she got that unexpected return invite.

'I GASPED SO LOUDLY'

"I had been dreaming about a chance at redemption," she said.

"I was not even aware that the Second Chance tournament - err, competiton, had even been suggested.

"So when I got the email [invite] I was at work, and I gasped so loudly that all of my coworkers had thought something horrible had happened."

"And I knew I couldn't tell them, so I had to pretend I got a really bad paper cut and they thought I was insane," she told host Ken, 48, as the crowd also gasped and laughed.

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He replied in astonishment: "Well Alicia's coworkers watching now you know there was no paper cut."

"Right," she nodded.

"She was gaslighting you," Ken barbed as the crowd quietened and he moved on.

Going into Final Jeopardy, Jack - who lost in a tiebreaker during his first game last year - had $26,400, Alicia $13,000, and Tom $10,000.

INCHING CLOSER TO THE CHAMPS

It read: "The Kattegat & Skagerrak Straits separate these 2 seas."

Finding all three Daily Doubles, Jack was also the only one who got the last clue correct with: "What are the Baltic + North Seas?"

All three contestants smiled just having gotten to be back, and Jack looked thrilled - with $26500 he will now advance to the finals in the once-in-lifetime competiton with Sadie Goldberger.

One fan wrote tonight to Reddit on winner Jack: "So glad he got a second chance and clearly ran with it."

Another added: "Loved Alicia’s anecdote and how she corrected herself after calling it a tournament. Congrats Jack!! What a performance!"

A third claimed: "Alicia almost called this a 'tournament' but quickly corrected herself. The producers really, really don't want anyone calling Second Chance a 'tournament'."

Both Jack, Sadie and one more player decided tomorrow night will play in this week's two-game finals on Thursday and Friday.

The victor (the first slot went to Jessica Stephens last week) will score the last remaining slot in the Tournament of Champions which airs directly afterward.

FOOL THEM ONCE

Jeopardy!'s brand new season premiered on September 12th.

Regular episodes and reigning ace Cris Pannullo will return in a month after both this competition and the Tournament of Champions conclude.

The 21 contestants in the following Tournament of Champions starting October 31st include Amy Schneider (40 wins) Mattea Roach (23 wins), Matt Amodio (38 wins), Ryan Long (16 wins) Jackie Kelly (4) Christine Whelchel (4) and other legends.

Both specials will be hosted by Ken and will air at the usual time of 7 p.m.

Fans are especially excited that after last night, the last open spot in the Tournament of Champions may go to Sadie Goldberger.

Her shock loss to Megan Wachpress last June came down to a controversial ruling from the judges.

Hundreds felt Sadie was "robbed" as she would have won had the show ruled in her favor during Final Jeopardy.

The show has stood by that her otherwise correct handwritten response of "Harriet Tubman" was "incomplete" with but an "n" missing - hundreds were left upset calling it the season's "most painful loss" and felt the show was wrong.

Last night she stuck to her script - quite literally - using the same penmanship and first and last name style, this time she was "undoudbedtly correct" in Final Jeopardy per Ken and fans loved seeing her potential "Cinderella story."