The idea of building up a potential five-figure pot to tie, but still going home with "just" $2,000 still leaves a bit of a sour aftertaste, but I dunno if there's a perfect alternate; they all have flaws in a way.
Semi-serious idea here. On Win Ben Stein's Money, if a contestant tied Ben in the Best of Ten Test of Knowledge, he or she received a $1,000 bonus. I wouldn't mind giving the tie-breaker runner-up an extra $3,000 (simply a flat $5K) for his or her work. Then again, with a tiebreaker, the ending is prolly already rushed enough; I wonder if Alex has time to explain why the 2nd place contestant's scoreboard now says $5,000 and not $2,000. I guess a quick explanation right before the category is revealed? "The winner comes back tomorrow, the runner-up takes home $5,000."
There's also the fact that two contestants could tie at $500...