Three full years into
its existence I remain unconvinced at the wisdom of Jeopardy’s Second
Chance Tournament. However going into this year’s Tournament I am convinced
that while the idea is madness the producers have at least managed to provide
some method to it that might be able to win me over.
There are two major
reasons I felt more inclined to be favorable going in, apart from the obvious
fact that there are only going to be two weeks of tournaments this season. (I
know it was because of the strike; it doesn’t change that…let’s move on.) The
first was a procedural change that I was unaware of until well into we were
well past all the Second Chances. Whoever manages to win the Second Chance
tournament this week and next does not unlike in 2022 automatically get a spot
in the upcoming Tournament of Champions. Instead they earn a spot in the next
round of the postseason Champions Wildcard. I am unaware of how many
players are participating ( I hope to inform my readers at some point
next week) but it seems likely that there might be at least one semi-final
round and then a final. That means whoever wins this week and next must win at
least three additional games before then qualifying for the 2025
Tournament of Champions (as Juveria Zaheer managed to do last season).
Considering that means someone who participates in the Second Chance Tournament
will have to win at least six games to get to the TOC and that many of those
participating only won 3, it’s hard to argue they won’t have earned it.
The second reason, if
you read my previous article, has to due with how more qualified the
participants are this time. All of those who are waiting for the TOC are more
than qualified but none – not even Adriana Havemeyer and Isaac Hirsch – were as
dominant as say, Cris Panullo or Ben Chan were in Season 39. While I found it
hard to justify the majority of competitors in the inaugural Second Chance
Tournament, there was only one participant in this group that I not only
couldn’t understand why they were here but in many ways may have foreseen their appearances.
And so far in the
Tournament, the matches have been everything one could hope for. All three
semi-final matches in Week 1 have been incredibly close game, competitive right
up until Final Jeopardy. The material has been at the same level as regular
play but all nine players have been up to it in a way that even some of the
bigger winners of Season 41 haven’t been able to master so far.
Here is a brief summary
of all the three semi-final matches. For brevity’s sake I will focus most of my
time explaining the play of the contestant who ended up winning, as well as
explain why they were invited to the Tournament in the first place.
Semi-Final Game 1
Tekla Sauter-Will
Yancey-Alex Michev
Will got off to a fast
start in the Jeopardy round finding the Daily Double on the third clue in A
EUROCENTRIC CATEGORY. He was at -$200 but he risked $1000:
“Unter den Linden in
Berlin is a tree-lined avenue running westward nearly a mile to this 5-portal
monument.” He knew it was the Brandenburg and went to $800. However Tekla and
Alex both gained ground rapidly and at the end of the Jeopardy round Alex was
ahead with $4800 to Will’s $3200 and Tekla’s $2800.
Will managed to take
the lead in Double Jeopardy early when he found both Daily Doubles back to
back. The first was in SAME FIRST & LAST LETTER. He wagered $2400: “To do
this is to drain a body of all its blood.” He knew it was to exsanguinate and
moved to $7200, tying him with Alex for the lead.
He found the other
Daily Double in THE 13TH CENTURY: “This phrase in the title of an
Indiana Jones movie has also been used about a useless effort by King Edward I
in 1271.” He knew it was the Last Crusade and moved back into the lead.
Keeping it proved tougher
as Alex stayed close to him throughout occasionally overtaking him. It was not until
he got three out of the four last clues correct that he built up a slight lead
with $14,800 to Alex’s $12,800 with Tekla not out of contention with $5600.
The Final Jeopardy
category was GEOGRAPHIC NAMES. “In 1492 Columbus visited this island that he
named for the country whose flag he flew.” All three players knew the correct
country: “What is Hispaniola?” (It is named for Spain). Will’s wager was almost
irrelevant (Alex had bet conservatively) but he finished with $25,601 and
advanced to the semi-finals.
Will had played dominant
in the Jeopardy round of a match early in the season, more humanly in Double
Jeopardy and was the only player to get Final Jeopardy incorrect. He proved more
than worthy of his second chance.
Semifinal 2
Scott Tcheng-Kaitlin
Tarr-Mike Ferguson
Kaitlin had come very
close to defeating Adriana Havemeyer in what would ultimately be her thirteenth
victory (she told us her friends have reminded her ever since of the Daily
Double she got wrong that may have cost her the win) and from the start of her
appearance to the end she very much played like that. She had gotten the five
of the first six clues in the Jeopardy round correct before she found the Daily
Double in NONFICTION. She told Ken she’d always wanted to say: “Let’s make it a
true Daily Double” and she must have regretted she said it immediately afterwards:
“King of the Osage
Hills” & “For the Betterment of the Bureau” are chapters in this 2017 bestseller.”
She apparently hadn’t seen the recent film Killers of the Flower Moon which
was the correct response (the book it was based on).
Undeterred she built up
very rapidly and had $7800 by the end of the Jeopardy round.
Scott challenged her
early in Double Jeopardy but a Daily Double didn’t go his way. The game was
much closer with all three players playing well. Kaitlin had a slight lead with
$10,800 when she found the other Daily Double in SINK, SANK, SUNK. More cautious
she bet just $1400:
“Vermont scuba divers
(a hardy lot) can explore the Water Witch, a schooner at the bottom of this
lake since 1866.” She knew it was Lake Champlain and went up to $12,800. She
finished with $14,400, $3000 more than Scott with Mike in contention with
$8200.
The Final Jeopardy
category was THEATER ETYMOLOGY. The clue was very tough: “A centuries-old type
of performance, this word includes Greek roots meaning ‘imitator of all.” No
one came close to a correct response though Kaitlin’s of: “What are
impressions?” was the closest. The correct response was pantomime (the roots as
Ken exclaimed were ‘pan’ and mimo’. Kaitlin wagered $5999, leaving her with
$8401 just enough to win.
SEMIFINAL 3
Colleen Matthews-Gino
Montoya-Josh Moss
Both Colleen and Josh
had been defeated by Adriana; Josh in what would be Adriana’s third win, Colleen
in what was Adriana’s fifteenth and last. In the Jeopardy round, however, Gino
and Josh got off to the fastest start and Gino had the lead with $7000 to Josh’s
$6200 while Colleen trailed with $3800.
This was the closest
played of all the semi-final matches and it was not until Colleen found the
second Daily Double in SHAKESPEARE that she took the lead for the first time.
Even then it took some thinking: “Polonius saying: ‘I hear him coming, let’s
withdraw, my lord’ is the cue for this immortal line.” I have to tell you it
took me nearly as long as Colleen to figure it out she said: “What is to be or
not to be?” just a moment before the buzzer rang. Colleen also helped herself
by getting four of the six $2000 clues correct in this round and that enabled
to her end Double Jeopardy with $18,600 to Josh’s impressive $12,200 and Gino’s
$11,800 (Josh moved ahead on the last clue of Double Jeopardy.)
The Final Jeopardy
category was U.S. PRESIDENTS: “According to his son Fred, this man first tried
smoking just because it was against the rules at West Point.” Colleen knew the
correct President: “Who is Ulysses S. Grant?” (Gino also knew it was Grant;
Josh wrote down Eisenhower, who did also
go to West Point and like Grant was a smoker, albeit of cigarettes, not cigars.)
Colleen wagered $5801 to win the semifinals.
I will be fascinated to
watch the finals not only because of how well all three players have done but
because two of the finalists were defeated by Adriana Havemeyer and have a different
kind of motivation to get to the next round that Will, for all his skill, doesn’t
have. And considering that Tekla and Josh also lost to her, I wonder if there
isn’t a custom T-shirt market for this group: “I competed against Adriana
Havemeyer on Jeopardy and all I got was this lousy shirt – until today.”
Perhaps that prize could go to either Colleen or Kaitlin should they advance. There’s
also a market for T-shirts with Drew Basile’s name on it, but both of those
challengers are next week.
I’ll be back with you
after Friday’s final to dissect the results.
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