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'Jeopardy!' contestant loses with most awesome answer ever

Ari Voukydis may not have won "Jeopardy!" on Thursday night, but he gave what may be the most awesome answer in the history of game-show answers during the Final Jeopardy round.The clue read, "In 1891 this European said, 'Perhaps my factories will put an end to war sooner than your congresses.'"Ari's answer? You gotta see it to believe it:Yes, he really wrote down "Who is this handsome gentleman?"
Ari Voukydis on "Jeopardy" June 26, 2014.
Twitter

Ari Voukydis may not have won "Jeopardy!" on Thursday night, but he gave what may be the most awesome answer in the history of game-show answers during the Final Jeopardy round.

The clue read, "In 1891 this European said, 'Perhaps my factories will put an end to war sooner than your congresses.'"

Ari's answer? You gotta see it to believe it:

In+case+you+missed+it,+this+was+an+actual+response+on+tonight's+@Jeopardy!+#ThisHandsomeGentleman+pic.twitter.com/dXpXvIcpAS

—+Chad+Mosher+(@ChadMosher)+June+27,+2014+

Yes, he really wrote down "Who is this handsome gentleman?" with an arrow pointing up at himself.

Clearly, the comedy writer from Los Angeles had no idea what the correct answer was (Alfred Nobel), but Ari used his talents to turn the situation into gold, if not a big, cold, hard cash prize. 

"Good for you, Ari!" host Alex Trebek cheered as the studio audience laughed.

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Ari told TODAY on Friday that though his main goal was to win, his priorities shifted once he knew he was mathematically eliminated. 

"When I realized that I didn't have an opportunity to win after Final Jeopardy, then I went after sort of a secondary target, which was to come up with a good Final Jeopardy answer so I could kind of lose on my own terms," he said. "It would have been a harder situation if I had a shot at (winning) it."

The comedy writer, who is performing in this weekend's Del Close Marathon at New York's Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, also pointed out that 30 seconds isn't a lot of time to consider alternative jokes for the Final Jeopardy clue.

"I think 'Who is this handsome gentleman?' is the first thing I came up with," Ari told TODAY.

He said a few of those seconds were dedicated to making sure the arrow he drew was pointed upward, so that it would point toward his face, as opposed to an unintentionally funny direction.

“I did give that some thought,” Ari said with a laugh.

He also cracked up at Trebek, who chatted with the contestants as the credits rolled: “He was talking to the lady who came in third and said, ‘Hey, don’t feel bad, you went up against a lawyer and a comedy writer,’ as if a comedy writer is supposed to be such a wise profession.”

Ari finished in second place with $6,100, and took home $2,000 for his efforts. Jennifer Blanton remained the champ with $18,600.

"Jeopardy!" airs weeknights. Check listings for local air times.

Follow Anna Chan on Twitter and Google+. 

Chris Serico contributed to this story. Follow him on Twitter.