After 200 games of Season 41 have
taken place the casual Jeopardy fan and the long time viewer alike must deal
with the strong possibility, becoming more probably with each passing week that
the 2024-2025 season may very well conclude without a champion reaching double
digits in wins.
For those of us who were fans
since before Ken Jennings set all kinds of records as a Jeopardy contestant,
this is not necessarily a shock. But for those fans who have flocked the
Jeopardy in the post-Trebek era, in large part because of the feats of Matt
Amodio and Amy Schneider it might come as something of a letdown. Considering
that between June of 2021 and June of 2024, they've witnessed eight different
champions win more than 11 games and four of them win more than 20, it's
understandable for them to be disappointed in that regard. And indeed it is
likely that this will be the first season since the 2014-2015 season in which
no player manages to reach double digits in wins.
Now to be fair, there are still
six weeks of the season to go and as we found out last year a lot can happen in
six weeks. During that period Adriana Harmeyer's 15 game winning streak was
brought to an end by Drew Basile who then went on to win 7 games himself. And
just two days later Isaac Hirsch then went on to win 9 games to be succeeded by
first Jay Fisher and then Neilesh Vinjamuri, who ended up beating both Isaac
and Adriana in this year's Tournament of Champions.
Even if that doesn't happen it is
conceivable multi-game winners can still emerge. In the final weeks of Season
39 we saw Suresh Krishnan win 6 games and just under $100,000 and in Season 38
we saw two consecutive six game winners Eric Ahasic and Megan Wachspress rise in
short order.
But the fact remains it has been
more than a month since Ben Ganger managed to officially qualify for next
year's Tournament of Champions. Quite a few players have likely unofficially
qualified and Jeopardy in keeping with its old patterns won't
acknowledge it until the season is well and truly over. With that in mind let's
look at the roster of the next Tournament of Champions both the certainties and
at this point the very strong probabilities.
Let's review the knowns starting
chronologically:
Ashley Chan: 4 wins, $67,400
Laura Faddah: 8 wins, $92,599
Alex DeFrank: 4 wins, $102,400
Josh Weikert: 6 wins, $100,202
Bryce Wargin: 4 WINS, $70,199
Andrew Hayes, 6 wins, $137,804
Liam Starnes, 6 wins, $123,584
Ben Ganger, 4 wins, $105,915
Again
a strong field by normal standards: 4 players who've won five games or more and
five players who've won over $100,000. In most eras prior to the arrival of the
era of super-champions (let's say 2014) this would be a solid group of players.
Now let's look at those who've
won 3 games and based on the standards of Jeopardy in the last three seasons
stand a strong chance of being invited back to participate in next year's
Tournament of Champions. Again I'll go chronologically:
Bill McKinney: $46,800
Mike Dawson: $57,000 (his streak came between Andrew
Hayes and Bryce Wargin)
Geoff Barnes: $44,801
Brendan Liaw: $59,398
Mike Massie: $79,800
Considering Mike Massie's run
netted him more money Bryce Wargin in 4 games I'd consider him a lock. It's not
as clear with the remaining three 3-game winners can make it but since Geoff,
who has won the least amount of money, has still won more than Alison Gross and
Weckiai Ranila, both of whom were allowed to participate in this year's
Tournament of Champions I think its very likely they'll all make it.
The unknown is W. Kamau Bell, who
won this year's Celebrity Jeopardy. Ike Barinholtz did participate (and did
quite well) in the 2024 Tournament of Champions but Lisa Ann Walter was too
busy filming Abbott Elementary to do so. Bell has a similar active
schedule to Walter so it's not clear yet if he'll be free by next winter when
the Tournament of Champions takes place. Personally I hope he does because he
is both a comedian and a pundit which means he's already got seventy percent of
what you need to do well in a Tournament of Champions.
At this point having spent enough
time I think I can make some educated guesses as to who will be invited back to
participate in the next Second Chance Tournament. And having just witness the
incredible play of Juveria Zaheer in this year's Masters I can no longer
pretend that they won't deserve to return or that might perform exceptionally
well if given the opportunity. (I'm now looking forward to see if Drew Goines
is invited back for whatever JIT they choose to bring him back for – and they
will.)
Again I'll work chronologically:
Jamie Hare: Came very close to
beating Alex Frank in his original appearance.
Brett Aresco: Was ahead of Alex
in his second appearance but got Final Jeopardy wrong.
Mustafa Hameed: Nearly beat Josh
Weikert in Josh's second win.
Melanie Hirsh: Was ahead of Josh
at the end of Double Jeopardy but ended up getting Final Jeopardy wrong,
allowing Josh to win his fourth game.
Allison Willard: The third player
in what was Josh's final game and Bryce Wargin's first win. That usually works
for Second Chance players.
Alfred Wallace: Nearly beat Bryce
in what would be his fourth victory.
Guy Branum: Third player in game
where Mike Dawson defeated Bryce Wargin. As I said this usually works.
Courtney Martin: Third player
between in game where Andrew Hayes defeated Mike Dawson. She has less of a
chance then those on this list because Andrew managed an impressive runaway.
Dave Widmayer: Had a comfortable
lead of Andrew in what was his second appearance but Andrew got Final Jeopardy
right and Dave didn't.
Michael DiSciullio and Stephanie
Rozman: Both finished Double Jeopardy in five figures in what was Andrew's
third win.
Dondi DeMarco: Lead throughout
Andrew's fifth appearance and had such a big lead going into Final Jeopardy
that Andrew actually wrote down: "It's been fun" because he was
pretty sure he was beaten. But he got Final Jeopardy right and Dondi didn't.
Rachel Gray and Steven Hoying:
Finished in five figures at the end of Double Jeopardy in what was Liam
Starnes' first win.
Bob Callen" Was leading Liam
going into Final Jeopardy in Liam's second appearance. Liam got Final Jeopardy
right; Bob was the only one who didn't.
Abigail Arnold: Nearly beat Liam
in his fourth appearance: He was astonished he ended up winning.
There are, to be clear, quite a
few others that have strong possibilities but considering that there are six
weeks to go in this season and at least three months of Season 42, better safe than
sorry.
Champions Wild Card is even
harder to handicap but at this point I have a few I'm very confident with my
predictions, all of them two game winners:
Dave Bond: $51,400
James Corson: $70,800
Dan Moren: $33,500
Mitch Loflin: $35,700
Beyond that I'll withhold further
speculation until the end of the season.
For the record, at this point, we
have thirteen players eligible for the next Tournament of Champions right now.
By the time Season 40 was over we had exactly 11. None of them may be Matt
Amodio or even Adriana Harmeyer but there are a few at the level of Drew
Basile.
I'll be back in six weeks when
Season 41 is well and truly over to update the final roster for the season just
past.
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