It is impossible to predict who
will end up winning any Tournament of Champions. It was impossible to do it
when the limit was five games and it's no easier now that players can win 11 or
more. In fact I actually wrote a series on this very subject leading up to the
2025 Tournament of Champions which more or less made it clear that just because
Adriana Harmeyer was in the finals didn't mean she was going to win – as indeed
she didn't.
Much like last year two of the
three seeded players are competing in the finals: 16 game winner Scott Riccardi
and 7 game winner Paolo Pasco. But for the first time in this new format the
third had not won 3 games or a special Tournament like Sam Buttrey. TJ Fisher
managed 5 wins and $100,723.
This is the first time since 2018
that all three finalists have won over $100,000 in their original appearances. Even
since the dollar figures were doubled and the five game limit was lifted this
hasn't happened that often: in fact it's only the fifth time in the history of
the Tournament of Champions its happened at all. (Since I've listed most of the
Jeopardy players and their previous tournament appearance on this show I won't
bore you with them here.)
If Scott or Paolo were to win this
tournament and the $250,000 grand prize they will both leap up pretty high on
the all-time Jeopardy leaderboard for total wins. Scott's already in 18th
place without any postseason play at all and this will put up on the verge of
the top ten with a guarantee of moving higher up when the Jeopardy Masters
takes place. For Paolo it will put him in the top 20 all time. And as we've
seen being in third in terms of games and/or money won was meaningless for
Yogesh Raut or Nilesh Vinjamuri going into the finals in the last two years.
It's worth noting that the
exhibition game for the three seeded players was aired on Friday. Paolo became
the first winner of that game in the short history of the TOC Exhibition to win
and then win his semifinal match. (Mattea Roach won the first one in 2022 and
Drew Basile won last year's. Both were defeated.) He did so in convincing
fashion, trouncing both Scott Riccardi and Laura Faddah. Is it a portent of
things to come? For the first time we will find out.
February
2nd
The Jeopardy round of Game 1 was
thrilling from beginning to end. Scott got an early advantage when he found the
Daily Double in LITERARY BIOGRAPHIES. Already in the lead with $1600 he bet
everything:
Richard Lingeman subtitled his
biography of Sinclair Lewis 'Rebel from' this title road.
It took Scott a moment but he
figured out the right Lewis novel: "What is Main Street?" He
went to $3200. He held his lead throughout the round just barely finishing with
$5400 to Paolo's $4800 and TJ's $4600.
Paolo got the first two clues
correct in Double Jeopardy and then found the first Daily Double in WHAT A
WORD! Perhaps thinking his skills as a crossword puzzle writer would help him
he bet the $7200 he had. They did:
Plausible but misleading argument
is called this, from thinkers whom Plato depicted as devious word-jugglers.
The word juggler thought.
"What is sophistry?" he finally said. It was correct and he jumped up
to $14,400.
Paolo managed to find the other
Daily Double as well in THE 17TH CENTURY. Already with a commanding
lead with $18,000 he 'only' bet $4000 this time:
In this revolt of 1680, the
village-dwelling Native Americans of the same name drove the Spanish out of New
Mexico. He
figured it out: "What is the Pueblo Revolt?" He was now at $22,000.
Paolo responded correctly on 19
clues with no mistakes and the question was could Scott to TJ catch him. The
answer was no. With fourteen of the clues stumping all three players, neither
TJ nor Scott could close the gap. Paolo finished with $25,600 to Scott's $8200
and TJ's $7800 to lock up his first victory by the end of Double Jeopardy. That
was good for him because of how Final Jeopardy went.
The category was COMPOSERS.
"This composer whose most famous work shows a Spanish influence said, 'My
parents met in Madrid." This is one of those clues where I wish I could
give those who gave incorrect responses partial credit.
TJ wrote down: "Who is
Ravel?" then crossed it out and put down Bizet. Like him I wrote that down
because I was thinking of Carmen and like him, I was wrong. He wagered
$777.
Scott wrote down: "Who is
Ravel?" and left it intact. That was the correct response as it referred
to his famous piece 'Bolero'. Scott wagered nothing.
Paolo wrote down: "Who is
Rossini?" Clearly he was thinking of The Barber of Seville. It only
cost him $121 and that meant he got his first match point.
February
3rd
Paolo came out swinging when he
found the first Daily Double in the Jeopardy round on the third clue in WORDS
OF MOUTH. He bet the $1800 he had:
A WWII ad campaign warned
Americans about the risks of giving info to the enemy, leading to this 4-word
rhyming slogan. Paolo
figured it out: "What is loose lips sink ships?" He doubled his score
to $3600. He kept his lead throughout the round, finishing with $6800. Scott
was in second with $2600 while TJ spent so much time struggling that he was
lucky to finish the round at -$1400.
Paolo put Game 2 out of reach even
earlier in Double Jeopardy when he found the first Daily Double on the second
clue in BEFORE, DURING & AFTER. This is a category that has caused Jeopardy
greats infinite headaches for twenty five years. Paolo didn't blink before he
bet the $8000 he had:
Piscine entry in a Douglas Adams
sci-fi series that's in an unusual or uncomfortable situation listening to a
Handel suite.
There was a long pause: "What
is So Long and Thanks for all the Fish out of Water music?" Paolo almost
deserved to win in getting that out in one breath and he went up to $16,000.
Then he found the other Daily
Double on the very next clue in THAT'S A LONG TITLE. Asked if he was thinking
of betting everything Paolo said "Not remotely" before wagering
$6000:
This Swift Title continues 'for
Preventing the Children of poor people from Being a Burthen to Their
Parents." He
knew it was A Modest Proposal and went up to $22,000.
For the rest of Double Jeopardy
there were two questions. Could TJ get out of the red and could anyone stop
Paolo from making it a runaway. The answer to question one was, yes, TJ did
managed to do that by the eighth clue and said, "Thank goodness." The
answer to question two, not even close. Paolo managed 21 correct answers and
only 2 incorrect ones and by finding all three Daily Doubles finished with an
incredible $31,200 to Scott's $9800 and TJ's $4600.
Redemption of a sort came in Final
Jeopardy for Scott and TJ in Final Jeopardy. The category was AMERICAN ARTISTS.
"His 1967 New York Times obituary called him a 'painter of
loneliness." All three players knew the correct artist: "Who is
Hopper?" (Like them I knew the obituary referred to the painter of Nighthawks.
TJ creatively wagered $3177 to finished with $7777, Scott bet nothing and
Paolo bet $1105 to finish with his second straight runaway and his second match
point.
February
4th
Scott came out swinging yet again
in the Jeopardy round finding the Daily Double on the second clue in
PENINSULAS. He bet the $1000 he had:
Rennes is the capital of this
region protruding as a peninsula into the Atlantic Ocean with the English
Channel to the North. He knew it was Brittany and had a
quick lead. It took a while for Paolo to get started today and he trailed Scott
for the entire Jeopardy round. At the end Scott led with $5000 to Paolo's $4200
and TJ's $2200.
Paolo slowly began to move in
Double Jeopardy and had $9400 by the time he got to the first Daily Double in
GET A LOAD OF THIS PAIR. He bet $7400 this time:
Lewis & Clark met during these
'directional' military campaigns in the 1790s (a direction they'd later travel)
There was a long pause and Paolo
was clearly not sure when he finally answered: "What are The Northwest
Wars?" He was shocked when Ken told him it was acceptable. "The Northwest
campaigns."
Then just like the day before he
found the Daily Double on the very next clue in WHAT A CONCEPT. This time he
bet $6000:
In a 1968 speech Martin Luther
King said he'd 'been to' this location "…and I've looked over, & I've
seen the promised land." Paolo
was surer this time: "What is the mountaintop?" He went up to
$22,800?"
It was all over sans the shouting.
Paolo would have his most dominant performance yet: 26 correct answers and no
incorrect ones. He finished with $33,200 to Scott's $7400 and TJ's $5800. When he
completed his third consecutive runaway Scott and TJ joined in the audience
with applause.
The last Final Jeopardy of the
Tournament of Champions was an exercise and all three players treated it that
way. I'll go through the motions: "This archipelago got its name in 1493
in honor of St. Ursula & her followers." Now I'm pretty sure none of
them knew the correct response: "What is the Virgin Islands?"
TJ wrote down: "What am I going
to do with my time not that studying's done?" As Ken put it. "This is the kind of existential question
we rarely consider on Jeopardy." For the record he lost $1601.
Scott was simpler. "What is
Congrats Paolo?" He lost $4600.
Paolo's response would have made
anyone who didn't admire and love him do so: "What an incredible ride with
the best TOC group I could ask for love you all!!!!!" He only lost $143 it
didn't matter because he was officially $250,000 richer.
For as long as Jeopardy continues
with this format in the Tournament of Champions Paolo Pasco will be the gold
standard for it. All three of his games were runaways by a long shot. While he
was not a super-champion by the terms recent viewers have come to know in the
post-Trebek era, this level of dominance in a Tournament of Champions rivals two
other players who are still considered among the greatest: Roger Craig in
winning the 2011 Tournament of Champions and Alex Jacob in winning it all in
2015.
Alex Jacob is the better comparison
as he also utterly dominated a super-champion in the same fashion that Paolo
absolutely trounced Scott Riccardi. In that dominating performance Alex completely
destroyed 13 game winner Matt Jackson who'd won $411,612 during that period and
$50,000 in four different appearances. Alex Trebek would famously say Alex
Jacob's performance was the most dominant he'd seen in thirty years of hosting.
Ken Jennings can no doubt appreciate Paolo's performance from that same perspective given his own
performance against some of the greatest players of all time.
By winning the Tournament of Champions
Paolo's officially winnings now total $445,717. This puts him ahead of Buzzy
Cohen on the all-time winnings list in 21st place and he has also
bypassed other greatest including Alex Jacob, Dan Pawson and Adriana Harmeyer. His
total has a chance to go even higher in the Jeopardy Masters when they take
place this year.
As for Scott Riccardi the $75,000
he won for finishing as a runner up moves his total in money winnings to
$533,000. He is now in fifteen place, moving ahead of such fellow super-champions
as Austin Rogers and Julia Collins. And
of course he and TJ Fisher will automatically return to compete in the 2027
Jeopardy Invitational Tournament next year.
As for this year's Jeopardy
Invitational Tournament it is scheduled to begin as early as tomorrow. I'll be
back next week with the official results.
Congratulations to Paolo Pasco.
You've made your mark in Jeopardy history in a way that even long time viewers
like me have rarely seen. I look forward to you have a long career in Jeopardy
for years to come.
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