Summary on the Quarterfinals of the 2024 Tournament of Champions

 

My original plan when the Tournament of Champions began two weeks ago was to wait until the quarterfinals ended and then give what amounted to a blow-by-blow the first round. Those of you who follow my column know that plan got shot to sunshine after Cris Panullo was upset – make that routed by Jared Watson in the second game and threw the entire brackets for everyone whose been following the Tournament out of whack.

Even Ken Jennings, who knows more about Jeopardy than almost anyone else, has been shocked by the number of upsets that have happened in the first round. I’d say he should know better but if you’ve read the articles I’ve written in the past week, you know that would be a case of the pot calling the kettle. But if nothing else this Tournament of Champions may have almost justified the excruciating first half of Season 40 as we had to go through a long endless ‘postseason’. The quarterfinal round has demonstrated to fans like me why we watch Jeopardy in the first place. We’ve had thrilling close match, dramatic upsets, unlikely routs and victories that were nearly as wonderful to watch as it was for the winners.

So before we go into the next round, let’s review what happened going in.

 

Quarterfinal 1

Emily Sands

Suresh Krishnan

Matthew Marcus

 

In an example of just how tough the questions would be going in Emily got off to an early lead in the Jeopardy round, Suresh blundered on the Daily Double and Emily had a small lead at the end of it.

The momentum shifted in Emily’s favor for good when she found the first Daily Double in Double Jeopardy in THAT BUILDING HAS GREAT BONES. She gained $7000 and from that point on no one had a chance to catch her. Suresh never recovered and finished Double Jeopardy with no money. Emily had an easy win with $21,800 to Matthew’s $7400.

Final Jeopardy had to do with FRENCH AUTHORS and it was brutal: “Trained as a priest and a physician, in 1532 he published his first novel under the pen name Alcofribas Nasier,” I had no clue what it was and was astonished that Matthew did: “Who is Rabelais?” Apparently Alcofribas Nasier is an anagram of Francois Rabelais. Emily didn’t take it seriously and she didn’t have too, she wagered nothing. Emily became the first finalist.

 

Quarterfinal 2

Jared Watson

Ben Goldstein

Cris Panullo

I went into this in great detail last Monday, so I won’t repeat myself. Suffice to say Jared Watson’s runaway victory was the first upset of this Tournament…but it’s far from the last.

 

Quarterfinal 3

Yungsheng Wang

David Sibley

Hannah Wilson

 

This game wasn’t quite as seismic an upset as the previous one, but it did stun me.  Hannah, who had won eight gams before being defeated by Ben Chan (we’ll get to him) had been one of my favorites going in. In the Jeopardy round, however, David got off to a fast start and had a big lead with $7000 to Hannah’s $3800 and Yungsheng’s $2400.

Early in Double Jeopardy Hannah seemed to gain momentum. She found the first Daily Double relatively early and chose to wager  $7000 she had in ‘B’EGINNINGS. “A Norse God begins this word that means a nonsensical jumble of words.” She knew it was balderdash and jumped to $16,000. She then found the Daily Double on the very next clue in WHERE IS THAT? Then she tried to put the game away too early and wagered $10,000:

“A research center established by Jane Goodall: a national park in Tanzania named for this stream” She struggled and guessed: “What is Olduvai?” It was actually Gombai. She dropped to $6000 and back into second place. After that David finally managed to regain his momentum, getting six of the next seven clues correct and had gotten all the way up to $16,800 before Hannah was able to ring in again.

The two were basically even: Hannah got 22 correct answers and gave three incorrect ones, while David gave 20 correct answers and also answered three incorrectly. Both got a Daily Double correct. It was the immense wager Hannah put on the second Daily Double that gave David enough of an opening and put him back ahead with $18,800 to her $13,200. As a result, because all three players knew the correct answer for Final Jeopardy (the only time in the quarterfinals that happened) David emerged the winner.

That said, I am glad for him. David was a fan favorite and proved it again when he found the Daily Double:

David: “As Salt-N-Pepa would say, let’s ‘push it.” $2800.”

When the laughter subsided:

Ken: “You’re the first Episcopalian pastor I’ve ever heard quote Salt-N-Pepa.”

He was defeated by Cris Panullo when Cris began his remarkable run, so I’m glad to see him advancing.

 

QUARTERFINAL #4

Yogesh Raut

Jake DeArruda

Nick Cascone

By contrast this match featured the only player I couldn’t root for. Because of his attitude I was inclined to think of Yogesh an ‘actual game show villain’. I was hoping he would suffer a humiliating defeat and for much of the Jeopardy round it looked like this was happen. Jake DeArruda got off to a fast start, found the first Daily Double late in the round and wagered everything and at the end of the round he had $14,400 to Yogesh’s $5600. Nick had only $1000

Then it started to fall apart for Jake almost immediately and Yogesh got momentum. Then Nick got it and found the first Daily Double. By that point he’d built up to $5800 but was still in third. With little choice he bet everything in NAME THAT TOMB: “Cyrus the Great’s tomb still stands at Pasargadae in this country, but his gold sarcophagus is gone.” Nick knew it was Iran (Cyrus was king of Persia and jumped to $11,600.

Just like with Hannah the day before, Nick found the Daily Double on the very next clue. Just like her, he wagered $10,000 and just like with her, it went wrong. The category was IN THE DICTIONARY. “Spur of the moment, or a piano piece that’s meant to sound spontaneous, like Chopin’s Opus 29.” Nick paused, guessed improvisation when it was impromptu. He dropped back to $1600.

Not long after Yogesh went on a run. Say what you will about the man’s personality, the guy can play. He got 26 correct responses, made no errors and finished with $26,800. Only because Jake had $14,400 was it not a runaway.

The Final Jeopardy category was 1950s POLITICS. It was a tough clue: “In 1959 Bob Bartlett and Hiram Fong each won a coin flip to gain this alliterative title.”  Modesty be damned, this stumped all three players but not me. I knew that the term was ‘senior senator’. In 1959 Alaska and Hawaii were admitted to the Union and Daniel Inouye and Hiram Fong for Hawaii and Ernest Gruening and Bob Bartlett for Alaska were named the state’s senators at the same time. The coin flip made Bartlett and Fong senior senators. It changed nothing and Yogesh became a semi-finalist. I hope he gets routed.

 

 

Quarterfinal #5

Juveria Zaheer

Kevin Belle

Luigi de Guzman

 

Juveria is the ‘Cinderella Story’ of this Year’s Tournament of Champions, having won first the Second Chance Tournament and then one of the more recent Wild Card Tournaments. For much of the game, it looked like momentum was on her side, Juveria got off to a great start in the Jeopardy round and by the end of it had amassed $11,400 to Kevin’s $2200 and Luigi’s $1600.

Early in Double Jeopardy Juveria had built her lead even larger when Luigi managed to find the first Daily Double in SCI. ABBR. (his phrasing) and with no choice bet the $3200 he had:

“C is short for this unit of electrical charge named for a French physicist.” He knew it was a coulomb and doubled his score.

Juveria kept building anyway. Then Luigi got to the second Daily Double, this time with $10,000. Again he bet everything in NAME. “Born Tafari Makonnen, this Emperor died in Addis Ababa in 1975.” Luigi knew it was Haile Selassie went up to $20,000 and took the lead from Juveria for the first time in the game.

But Juveria had no intention of going quietly or even slowing down. In a sense she completely outplayed Luigi: she gave 26 correct responses and made just two mistakes, while Luigi only gave seventeen and made a whopping six mistakes. But they finished neck Juveria with $23,400 to Luigi’s $22,000. Kevin was very much alive with $5800.

The Final Jeopardy category was WORLD TRAVEL: “The name of this service that began November 14, 1994 echoes the Etoile du Nord, which linked Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam from 1927.” I had no clue what this could be. But Luigi did: “What is Eurostar?” (The high speed rail that links London to Europe through the Chunnel.) Juveria had gotten in partially right: She wrote down the Chunnel.) Luigi had managed the most spectacular comeback of the quarterfinals.

Luigi was the first player to qualify for this Tournament of Champions so it’s fitting he’s there for the semi-finals.

 

QUARTERFINAL #6

Josh Saak

Brian Henegar

Stephen Webb

Stephen had won eight games and over $180,000 in his original run. Other strong players had done badly in this tournament but few more disappointingly than Stephen. He went into the red on the first clue and never managed to get out of it. He gave only eight correct answers, got seven wrong and finished at -$800.

This was a tough game for everybody and the most underwhelming of the quarterfinals: there were thirteen incorrect answers and thirteen clues that stumped all three players. At the end only Josh and Brian were left, Brian at $12,800, Josh at $8400.

Neither knew Final Jeopardy. I did, but it was a guess. The category was COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD: “Fearful of independence in 1975, around 120,000 of this country’s people, a third of the population, fled to the Netherlands.” I realized this referred to Dutch Guiana or Suriname, they didn’t.

I am, however, happy for Brian. Because of his appearance and boisterous behavior he took a lot of hits from the Internet after his original appearance. I’m glad he’s back.

 

Quarterfinal #7

Ike Barinholtz

Amanda Klapper

Ray LaLonde

Went over this in some detail on Monday.

 

Quarterfinal #8

Ben Chan

Justin Bolsen

Emmett Stanton

 

This game restored my faith in the order of the universe. Ben’s nine wins and over a quarter of a million dollars in earnings were among the most dominant wins of Season 39. People are still irked as to the circumstances of his defeat. In his first appearance, he picked up right where he left off. By the end of the Jeopardy round he had a huge lead with $11,400 and by the time Double Jeopardy was barely a third over, he essentially had the game locked up. He finished Double Jeopardy with $29,800 to Justin’s $10,000 and Emmett by this point was out in the negative. He had given 28 correct responses and make just one mistake.

Final Jeopardy stumped both players but it didn’t matter as neither wagered much.

 

Quarterfinal 9

Sean MacShane

Deb Bilodeau

Troy Meyer

Troy’s run wasn’t as long as many on this show but it was impressive: six win, over $214,000. It took him a while to get moving in the Jeopardy round, he had $7000 to Sean’s $5200 by the time it was over.

Then in Double Jeopardy, he brought the house down Already in the lead with $11,800, he decided to go for broke in THE HEAVENS & EARTH: ‘Cepheids are the pulsating type of these stars that fluctuate in brightness.” He knew they were variable stars and jumped way into the lead with $23,600.

He wasn’t done. He’d gotten up to $26,400 when he found the other Daily Double in OCCUPATIONS. He chose to bet $4000 this time: “With a name from Latin for copyist, this type of insurance specialist calculates risks and premiums.” He knew it was an actuary and crossed the $30,000 threshold.

Troy gave 28 correct responses, only made two mistakes and finished with $38,400 to Deb’s $8400. It was by far the most dominating performance in the quarterfinal match. And he was also the only player to know the correct response for Final Jeopardy.

The category was AMERICAN LITERARY HISTORY: “The country is celebrating 100 years of freedom 100 years too soon,” says The Fire Next Time, published in this year.” Troy knew it was 1963, the 100^th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation (James Baldwin wrote the book.)

 

It’s an interesting group of semi-finalists going into the next round, many heavy favorites perhaps being unseated by fan-favorites. What will happen in the semis? Will the Jeopardy villain make it to the next round? Will Ike Barinholtz continue to make the case for celebrities? (No spoilers for tonight.) Or will the Wild Card Tournament prove its worth? Emily Sands is the sole representative of Champions Wild Card standing, will she end up going forward?

If anything the last nine games have told us to expect the unexpected – along with some real brain-bending Jeopardy questions all the way through. By the way, the writers are back and they are clearly determined to put all the contestants – and the fans – through their paces. They are certainly doing everything possible to make my brain hurt and I mean that in the best possible way.

Be back on Wednesday when the semi-finals are over.