All those who
worship at the lectern of the Alex Trebek stage! Those of you who can only find
our answers in the form of a question! For nearly 140 days and 140 nights, we
have wandered in the long desert of the 40th season. We have given
second chances to those who have never deserved the second chances! We have
played for wild cards than the deck has! We have wondered if the end will ever
arrive! Well, brothers and sisters, our salvation is nearly upon is. Within just a few more days we will finally
be invited to the promised land!
Ok, I will drop
the preaching here. But seriously, for those of us who have wondered if there
was ever going to be a light at the end of this endless postseason tunnel that
Jeopardy fans have had to go through for more than half of this season we have
reached the redemptive light. To be sure this year’s Tournament of Champions
has more than been worth the wait, even before the final winner has been
decided. But just as wonderful is the fact as when the final winner is crowned,
we will get an additional reward.
The winner of
the Tournament of Champions, as we now know, will in addition to the $250,000
prize gain an invitation to the Jeopardy Masters Tournament. For much of the
last few months we wondered who would get the other two spots. Then in January,
we learned of the Invitational Tournament and the format it would involve. For
those non-Jeopardy fans or even the more casual ones, here is what will happen.
The format will
take the version of the Tournament of Champions we have just witnessed. 27
former Jeopardy greats will compete in nine quarterfinal matches. The
semi-finals will yield three finalists, and the winner will advance to the
Masters in what will be a match point system. The difference being only two wins
will be necessary to make it to the Masters.
We’ve also know
the identities of three of the invited players: Sam Buttrey, Andrew He and Amy
Schneider. All three of them qualified having competed in the first Masters
last year before ultimately finishing below Matt Amodio, Mattea Roach and James
Holzhauer, all of whom will be waiting in the Masters. By coincidence, Sam,
Andrew and Amy were also the finalists in the 2022 Tournament of Champions
which Amy ended up winning. They will be the lone contenders from the 2022
Tournament of Champions to compete in the Invitational which is reasonable as
we do not need to relitigate the previous Tournament. No one who competed in
this tournament, save the ultimate winner, will be eligible as well.
So the questions
that millions of Jeopardy fans like myself have been speculating on since the
announcement of this tournament was: who else got invited back? Well, yesterday
we finally got our answer. And the results were more than satisfactory.
I take a special
pleasure in noting who was invited. If you read my blog in the months
immediately following the Masters you will remember that I wrote two separate
lists of players I believed who deserved to be invited back for this year’s
Masters. No less than seven of them were invited. Furthermore, a couple of
years earlier in anticipation of the 40th Anniversary of Jeopardy I
gave a very substantial list of hypothetical 40th anniversary
Tournament and several players I thought deserved invitations. Seven different
names from that group were among the ones I thought you be invited and of the
remainder, many more would have been worthy choices. There are only four names
on this list that I am puzzled, and two of them I can understand the logic to a
reasonable point.
So let’s look at
the 24 former Jeopardy greats who will be participating in this first
Invitational. I should add going forward that many of them have either
competing against or in a couple of cases alongside Ken Jennings in past
tournaments. As this is the first time the majority of them will be playing
since the passing of Alex Trebek, I look forward to hearing them interact with
Ken and just as likely share stories about the host that brought them together.
Many of them have been on this stage multiple times but I imagine it will be
bittersweet given that Trebek is now gone.
Colby Burnett
Colby was not on
my initial list of players who should be invited back to the next Masters. But
trust me, he would have shown up eventually considering that in little more than
a decade he has put together one of the most impressive performances in
Jeopardy history.
He won the 2012
Teachers Tournament and went on to win the Tournament of Champions later on in
Season 29. He never lost any of the eight games he played and won a total of
$350,000. In the Battle of The Decades he managed to advance to first the quarterfinals
and then the semi-finals. (In each case he was playing against someone else who
has been invited back.) He ultimately lost the semi-final to Roger Craig,
though by no means ignominiously.
He was invited
to captain his own All-Star Team when the Jeopardy All-Stars took place in 2019.
(I’ll deal with his draftees soon). Through luck and guile his team made it to
the Wild Cards and through more luck and guile they competed against teams led
by Ken himself and Brad Rutter. (Hmm. Brad isn’t here.) Perhaps inevitably his
team finished third and shared a prize of $100,000.
Colby is one of
the greatest Jeopardy players in history and deserves his invitation.
Lily Chin
Lily Chin won
the 2017 College Championship but was more famously known for the Final
Jeopardy response she wrote down in her final appearance in that tournament.
With the tournament locked up, she wrote down: “What is the spiciest memelord?”
(something Alex Trebek may not have fully comprehended when he read it). She
still won the $100,000 and went viral.
In that year’s
Tournament of Champions which included one of the most impressive rosters to
that point, she earned a wild card into the semi-finals and managed to hold her
own against two of the all-time greats: Andrew Pau and Austin Rogers. She was
actually invited as an alternate in the Jeopardy All-Star Games but everyone
showed up. It was inevitable Lilly would return and I’m glad she’s here.
Arthur Chu
This is a long-overdue
return to the stage for one of the greatest players in history. In Arthur’s
initial run in February and March of 2014, he became the first player to win
more than ten games since David Madden in 2005. He won 11 games and just under
$300,000. In the Tournament of Champions he was dominant in his quarterfinal
and semi-final appearance and ended up facing off two of the other greatest
players in Jeopardy history: Julia Collins, who not long after Arthur’s run won
20 games and Ben Ingram, who had the previous season won 8 games and nearly
$176,500. It was the most impressive lineup for a Tournament of Champions in a
long time and it was thrilling from beginning to end. When it was over, Arthur
had been narrowly defeated by Ben Ingram and finished with $100,000.
Then controversy
because of Arthur’s online activities – much of which was likely exaggerated – put
a scarlet letter on his chest. I can not think of any other reason Ben and
Julia were invited to the All-Star Games (as well as several inferior players)
but Arthur was not.
Now the hour of
Arthur’s redemption has come and I for one could not be more grateful.
Leonard Cooper
As with Lilly Leonard’s
recognition in Jeopardy had less to do with his accomplishments then his
becoming a media sensation. After playing frankly unevenly in the 2013 Teen
Tournament, Leonard became a viral sensation in the second game of the final.
Believing he had locked up the tournament his response to Final Jeopardy included:
“But I just won $75,000.” Even though he
might very well have lost, it elicited a huge laugh from the audience and Alex.
I think that
might have gotten him invited to the All-Star Games. That said, his actual play
in the tournament was at the level of most of his far older opponents and
in the case of a couple of his challengers, superior. He earned an invite back
in my opinion with that play and this time there is no question he belongs.
Celeste DiNucci
Celeste may be
the luckiest winner of a Tournament of Champions in history. She only qualified
for the semi-finals because of a wild card. She won her semi-final match only
because of a tie-breaker question, one of the only times in the history of
Jeopardy Tournaments that ever happened. In the finals, her opponent Doug
Hicton had a huge lead over her in the second game and only because he got
Final Jeopardy wrong and misjudged how much he should bet did Celeste end up winning.
All that said, she is still the winner of the 2007 Tournament of Champions and was
the last female winner until Amy Schneider won in 2022.
She played well
in the Battle of the Decades match and it was only because of a set of
circumstances in Final Jeopardy that only played out a certain way that Celeste
lost and Colby won. I’m looking forward to her return.
Chuck Forrest
Anyone who knows
Jeopardy’s history knows Chuck Forrest. Ken Jennings, competing against him in
the Battle of the Decades, complimented Ken by saying that Chuck was the first
player he’d ever want to be like. And that was game recognizing game.
Chuck set the
first record for Jeopardy winnings, first with the five day mark of $72,800 and
then by winning the 1986 Tournament of Champions. Both of those marks were eventually
eliminated by the mid-90s but Chuck’s presence held over the Tournament. He returned
to the stage in the Million Dollar Masters in 2002, winning his quarterfinal
and only narrowly losing the semi-final. He got a bye into the Ultimate Tournament
of Champions and played well there until he lost in Final Jeopardy. In the
Battle of the Decades, he made it first into the quarterfinals and then the semis
before becoming very close to the first player not named Brad Rutter to beat
Ken Jennings. In each tournament he walked away with $25,000.
Chuck is the
most senior player in this tournament in terms of his initial appearance but as
we have seen over and over he has yet to lose a step. I can’t wait to see how he
and Ken interact now that Ken is hosting. This must be a dream for Ken that he
never thought would experience.
Dhruv Gaur
Dhruv’s place in
Jeopardy history is two-fold. He was the winner of the last College
Championship that took place before the world learned of Alex Trebek’s diagnosis
of pancreatic cancer. This happened in April of 2018. Dhruv had played well in
that tournament and had actually ran away with it to the point that his
response for Final Jeopardy was: “What is That’s All, Folks?” .
He made it to the
semi-finals but he was losing badly in that match against Emma Boettcher and
Kyle Jones. So when Final Jeopardy came up he was viral for a more moving
reason. His response was: What is we love you, Alex?” When he read Alex choked
up and was visibly moved – the audience itself was moved as well.
Maybe Dhruv has been
asked back for no other reason than for this. But honestly, it’s a good one.
Ben Ingram
When Ben won eight
games and $176,583 in July of 2013 it was an impressive mark. By the time of
the 2014 Tournament of Champions the following November, he was only the third
best player competing.
Ben shrugged it
off, all but romped through his quarterfinal match and absolutely thrashed his
opponents in the semi-finals. He had every reason to think going into the start
of the finals he was the low man against Julia and Arthur. In one of the most
exciting Tournament of Champions matches of all time, Ben went into it a fairly
distant third. With nothing to lose, he bet everything in Final Jeopardy. He was
the only player to come up with a correct response and ended Game 1 in the lead.
He finished Game 2 in third as well but on another tough final that no one
could get correct, his early lead was enough to sustain him and give him the
$250,000 grand prize.
Naturally he was
invited back to the Jeopardy All-Star Games. By this time he and Julia had
become close friends and she made him her first choice of the draft picks. Ben
more than proved his worth as a pick but he was competing against Ken Jennings
and Team Julia was the first to be eliminated. He shared in a $50,000 prize
with her and Seth Wilson. Considering how many former participants in that
tournament are here, it’s hardly surprising he’s among them.
Matt Jackson
In retrospect Matt
Jackson was a bridge to the kinds of super-champions we’ve seen in the last
five years on Jeopardy. Not since David Madden had we seen a player this
dominant on Jeopardy as he racked up 13 wins and over $400,000. He won $50,000
or more 4 times and ran away with all but one of his victories. Going into the
2015 Tournament of Champions, he seemed an unstoppable force. Then, as we shall
see, he met an immovable object and finished second with $100,000.
Ken, given the
option, made him his first pick when he was drafting players and it was one of
the best decisions he made. Matt was more dominant than Ken was in his Double
Jeopardy appearance in the quarterfinals, building Ken’s team to a lead so big neither
of his rival teams had a chance at the end of Game 1 to overcome it. He played
nearly as well in the Double Jeopardy round in the final, giving Team Ken a
narrow margin at the end of the round and only a relatively conservative wager
gave Team Brad the lead at the end of Game 1. By the time Matt was back onstage
Team Brad had locked up the tournament (we’ll get to why in a minute) But he
and Team Ken shared in a $300,000 prize.
For many other
reasons I’m looking forward to see Matt return because I’d like to see how Ken
and he interact, now that they’re no longer teammates.
Alex Jacob
Alex Jacob ‘only’
won six games and just under $150,000 in his initial appearance. But he did so
in such a dominant fashion (he is one of the most famous Jeopardy champions to have
a trend of going all in on Daily Doubles) that he was a heavy favorite going
into the 2015 Tournament of Champions.
And he dominated
that Tournament of Champions in a way that few have before and none have since.
He won both his quarterfinal and semi-final in runaways. When the Finals came
around, not even Matt Jackson had a chance against him. When it was over Alex
Trebek told his fellow Alex he had never seen a player in a Tournament of
Champions this dominant, and Alex Jacob was clearly moved to tears when he won.
Buzzy Cohen got
the first pick in the draft and Alex Jacob was his first choice. And he was
everything Buzzy could have hoped for. He had Brad Rutter’s number when they
faced off in the Jeopardy round of their match. And when they met again in
Double Jeopardy Alex completely humiliated him to the point Brad actually apologized
to his teammates. Team Buzzy had a chance to overcome Team Brad and make it
into the finals in their own right but it didn’t work out.
Alex got off to
a great start in the Jeopardy round of Game 1 of the Wild Card. Things were
going great guns for him when he took over in Double Jeopardy of Game 2. And
then, he inexplicably (at the time, these days it seems the norm) wagered
everything on a Daily Double even though his team had a huge lead. It didn’t
work, the team dropped to nothing and by the time Double Jeopardy was over Team
Buzzy had no chance of getting anything but third place. Still we’ve all missed
him and we look forward to his return.
Mackenzie Jones
Mackenzie Jones
was one of the last great players to play in the Trebek era and before the pandemic.
In eight games she managed to win just under $205,000. Her last show was
recorded not long before the world went into a lockdown. By the time she got to
compete in the 2021 Tournament of Champions, it was a different world and not
just because Alex was gone. She would lose her quarterfinal match on a tough Final
Jeopardy and did not come back for a wild card. She would have been invited
back under normal circumstances; I’m glad she’s here.
Sam Kavanaugh
When the first
Masters Tournament line up was announced Sam posted online that he was a little
hurt he wasn’t included. It must have hurt more when some online players said
that they didn’t know who he was. Such is so often the fate of the Jeopardy champion.
Sam, in case you
didn’t know won the 2021 Tournament of Champions. He had a runaway in
his semi-final match and blew the competition away in the finals. He’d also won
his five games in the era of Trebek. Unfortunately it has been his fate to be
overshadowed: less than a month after the Tournament of Champions aired, the
airwaves would be graced by the presence of Matt Amodio.
Everyone wants
to win this tournament. Few have a more reason than Sam does.
Larissa Kelly
Larissa was a
groundbreaker. She was the first female contestant to win more than five games.
She won 6 and $222,597. Then she finished second in the 2009 Tournament of Champions
(more on that below) and her total of $323,597 was the benchmark for a female
contestant until Julia Collins surpassed it in May of 2014. By that point
Larissa had competed in the Battle of The Decades, almost ran away with her
match and lost in one of the most painful Final Jeopardys in that tournament.
Five years later
she was back on stage for the Jeopardy All-Star Games. Brad made her his first
choice (we’ll get to his second just below) and she more than proved her worth,
taking his total and getting him into a big lead in Game 1. Then when they were
trailing badly at the end of Game 2, her correct response in Final Jeopardy
assured that the team would make it to the Finals. She played brilliantly in
Double Jeopardy in Game 1 of the finals against Matt Jackson and she was onstage
for Final Jeopardy when Team Brad won the million dollar prize. In addition to
everything else, she overcame Julia Collins for the all-time mark for winnings
for a female contestant.
It’s fitting she
has returned to the stage because Amy Schneider surpassed her. Larissa was gracious
to her when it happened. If they meet again, there will be no quarter given by
either.
Alan Lin
In a 2017
Tournament of Champions roster Alan’s record of 6 wins and $123,600 didn’t seem
impressive – in fact he was near the bottom of both winnings and games won that
year. Then he all but ran over Austin Rogers in the quarterfinal match. And we
knew he would be a force.
He demonstrated
it again in the semi-finals and got into the finals against Austin and Buzzy. He
had a good chance of winning at the end of the first game and that held until
Buzzy went all in on a Daily Double later in Double Jeopardy in game 2. With
little choice Alan did the same a few clues later – and it didn’t work out. He
dropped to zero and Buzzy ended up winning. He was asked back to the All-Star
Games in which Buzzy and Austin were captains. Colby drafted him. In his
interview Alan said he had one goal in mind: “To crush Buzzy Cohen.” At that
point he was playing against Buzzy in Double Jeopardy – and Buzzy ended up
crushing him. Fortunately Team Colby did make it to the wild card round – and though
he wasn’t directly responsible for it, he did get revenge when Team Colby made
it to the Finals. That was as far as it went, however.
Alan never had occasion
to face off against Ken during that Tournament. Watching the two of them will
be…interesting.
David Madden
Less then a year
after Ken’s run ended, the next super-champion arrived on Jeopardy. David
Madden managed to win over 2005 19 games and just over $430,000. He wasn’t
nearly as dominant as Ken had been but he had been impressive. I thought he
would cruise to the grand prize in the 2006 Tournament of Champions but he was
flattened in the semi-finals.
I didn’t think it
would be so long before either I saw another super-champion or David Madden
again. For reasons never clear David did not think he could participate in the
Battle of the Decades. That conflict was gone by the All-Star Games in 2019. Brad
made him his second pick and it worked as well as Larissa. His response and big
wager in Final Jeopardy gave Team Brad a lead that got them into the finals.
His correct response in Final Jeopardy in Game 1 of the Finals put Team Brad in
the lead and his performance in the Jeopardy round of Game 2 put them up for a
good.
David’s mark of nineteen
wins and $430,400 were second place in both for a long time in Jeopardy
history. He has dropped quite a bit in the last five years in particular. I
look forward to seeing how he does against some of the super-champions on this
list.
Pam Mueller
Next to Chuck
Forrest, Pam Mueller goes back the furthest of the first group in the
Invitational. She is the winner of the 2000 College Championship. That’s the
only Tournament she ever won. But no one would call her easy to beat.
She was a
semi-finalist in the 2001 Tournament of Champions but her claim to fame came in
the Ultimate Tournament of Champions in 2005. Only 23, she managed to easily
defeat so many often far senior players than her to climb to one of the semi-finals
against Jeopardy icons Frank Spangenberg and Jerome Vered. She played these two
record holders dead even for both games, finishing second at the end of Double
Jeopardy in each. But luck was against her and she ended up losing to Jerome.
Her reputation was just beginning.
Because of her
performance she was invited back to the Battle of The Decades and continued to
show her mastery. She beat two Tournament of Champions winners in her first
game, was in the lead going into Final Jeopardy against two more in her
quarterfinal. She got a wild card. And for much of her semi-final she was dead
even against two more – Colby Burnett and Roger Craig. She finally lost.
She was invited
back to the All-Stars and Colby made her his first pick. Pam spent much of the
Tournament facing off against her old rival Roger Craig, battling Alex Jacob and
when Team Colby got to the finals, she was matched against Brad and Ken, who
like her were the senior members of this tournament.
Pam is one of
the most storied players in this tournament and I can only wonder about the
stories she and Ken will share when they meet.
Terry O’Shea
In the middle of
Season 30, between the Battle of the Decades and Arthur Chu’s run, the 2014
College Championship took place. Terry, then a sophomore at Princeton won a
closely fought battle to take home $100,000.
In the
Tournament of Champions she managed an upset victory over 8 game winner Drew
Horwood and played dead even with Julia Collins in her semi-final game before Julia
prevailed. It is not as extensive a record as some of the other players invited
but it’s a solid one
Dan Pawson
Dan’s place in
Jeopardy lore has dropped over the years but he was once of the best. He was
the first player to win nine games since David Madden in his initial run in
2008. (No one would win that many for another four years.) Then Dan made it to
the Tournament of Champions and was in the finals against Larissa, the other
player who was at least his equal. The two engaged in a hard fought battle and
it was not until Final Jeopardy of the second game that Dan emerged the winner
and $250,000 richer.
Dan competed in
the Battle of the Decades and managed to get to the quarterfinals – before he
ran into the bulldozer that was Brad Rutter. His only chance by the time Double
Jeopardy was half-over was the wild card and that didn’t go his way either. It’ll
be good to see Dan again.
Jennifer Quail
Jennifer Quail was the
first of three females to win eight games in what would be Alex Trebek’s final
full season. She also won the most with $228,800. And she was all the only one
of three to make it to the Finals of the Tournament of Champions that year. She
fought hard against Sam in the first game and did to overcome an insurmountable
lead Sam had, but by the time Sam found the second Daily Double it was essentially
over. The fact she was the only player to get Final Jeopardy correct was
bittersweet. I am more than looking forward to her return
Austin Rogers
These days
everybody seems to be clowning around at the podium but the man who pioneered
it was Austin Rogers. He was also, lest we forget, one of the greatest Jeopardy
players of all time winning 12 games and just over $411,000. He actually won more
than $70,000 twice.
After narrowly
losing the Tournament of Champions to Buzzy Cohen, he was invited back to captain
an All-Star Team less than two years later. He picked Roger Craig and Leonard
Cooper, which was a solid team, but he had to personally go up against Ken
Jennings in both parts of their match and Ken did what he did to so many other
people. Austin faired much better in his appearance in the Double Jeopardy
round of the Wild Card game and his team was in a position to win the match had
it not been for a Final Jeopardy that (inexplicably, from my perspective) no
one knew the answer to, including Austin.
Until Sam
Buttrey came along Austin was arguably the most beloved Jeopardy champion in
history and I know we’re all looking forward to his coming back.
Monica Thieu
Despite an
impressive performance in the 2012 College Championship I believed Monica, who
at the time was a sophomore at the University in North Texas, was invited to
the Jeopardy All-Star Games in 2019 in large part because her reactions in
victory had made her memorable. She had played decently, if not memorably in
her sole appearance in the 2013
Tournament of Champions, but there were many players I would have invited ahead
of her. It did not shock me in the draft that she was one of the last players picked.
But Monica
played impressively for Team Ken throughout the Tournament, knowing the correct
responses to both Final Jeopardys she had to answer. Perhaps Ken stacked the
deck for an old friend, but she’s earned her spot and I’m glad to see her.
Jason Zuffranieri
Jason was the
last super-champion to appear under Alex’s tenure and because he had the grave
misfortune to make his first appearance a month after James Holzhauer’s epic
run, his performance was undercut. The fact that he won 19 games and over half
a million dollars would have made more news had James not broken every record
in the book.
I would have
liked to have seen him face off against James but the slots had all been
filled. As a result he didn’t appear until the 2021 Tournament of Champions –
and he underperformed. He only got to the semi-finals because of a wild card
and he ended up losing his semi-final game to none other than Jennifer Quail.
After that, of course, his place in the Jeopardy rankings has dropped from
being tied with David Madden for fourth place in games won to a tie for ninth
and he has dropped to ninth in money won as well.
There may be
more qualified players in the Invitational but there are few with a greater
drive to make it back than Jason. He wants to prove more than almost anyone in
this tournament that’s he’s as great as all the other players in the Masters. I
think Matt Amodio, James Holzhauer, and Mattea Roach would want to face him the
most as well – or maybe the least.
Those are the twenty
two players with an impressive record. The other two Brandon Blackwell and
Victoria Groce were unknown to me – and they might to be you.
Victoria is no
doubt here because she ended the run of one of the super-champions: she
defeated David Madden on September 20, 2005. I imagine the invitation is close
to that of a wild card but she does have a Jeopardy connection. She has been
appearing as a ‘Chaser’ on the Chase since May of 2022.
Brandon
Blackwell appeared in the 2008 Teen Tournament but was eliminated in the
semi-finals. However since then, he has had an impressive run on other game
shows. He won $43,100 on Who Wants to Be A Millionaire. He won $339,416
and finished second in Million Second Quiz and has appeared on
University Challenge, a British Game show. He was a challenger on 500 questions
but ended up unable to eliminate – Monica Thieu. And like Victoria, he is also
a Chaser. His Jeopardy record may be unimpressive, but he sure knows game
shows.
In less than a
week, we will begin to witness the return of some of the greatest players in
Jeopardy history in what will no doubt be an impressive tournament. This is the
place of business most Jeopardy fans live in and for. I know I am. Stay tuned
for all the glorious news.
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