As I've mentioned more than once
in my articles about Jeopardy not long before Alex Trebek passed away I
was attempting to write on the 100 greatest champions in history. By the time
we were two full years into the post-Trebek era the book was on hiatus and will
probably never be published which, if I'm being honest, probably is the best
thing for it.
Looking back on it years later
one of the biggest issues was that the writing was very much that of an
encyclopedia with little to interest someone who wasn't a Jeopardy fan. Part of
it may have been because this was the most impersonal set of non-fiction
writing I've done with almost none of my love of the show in it. However in
recent years I've begun to think they may not have been my only problem.
I'd watched Jeopardy for
more than a quarter of a century before I began to write the book on the
subject. When I was writing it I mostly focused on the details of how each
champion played the game, how they did on Daily Doubles, etc. Part of it was
that my personality wasn't there but another problem was there wasn't a lot of
the contestants personality. And that is at least partially my fault.
Jeopardy is an incredible show in large
part because it was – and still is – perhaps the only game show where everybody
takes themselves seriously. The contestants are the stars of the show and one
of the things that makes them stars is just how intelligent they were and the
breadth and depth of the knowledge they had. That's what makes it a great show.
What it doesn't necessarily lead
to is the kind of personalities that lend itself to great writing. Jeopardy is
a competition, mental rather than physical, but a competition and part of what
makes a great competition is the personalities of the stars. And that's the one
area where Jeopardy is lacking in comparison not just to television as a
whole but other game shows. When you have to take the show seriously as you do Jeopardy
there isn't a lot of room for antics or quirks. This was especially true
when the show had a five game limit for champions – a week rarely gives anybody
a chance to establish themselves as an individual on a TV show – and it really
didn't change much after the limit was removed. For all his incredible
intellect and competitiveness Ken Jennings really didn't get a chance to show
much in the way of a personality during his incredible 74 game run. In the many
postseason tournaments that followed he would get a chance to do so,
particularly as he played against many of his fellow competitors but not much
at first.
The same has to be said for
almost every great Jeopardy player for much of the Trebek era, even when it
comes to winners of Tournaments of Champions. Chuck Forrest and Frank
Spangenberg, to take two of the most prominent of the early champions were
known for their achievements on Jeopardy rather than any thing
they did while they were on the show as individuals. This was true for every
major winner during the five game period. Ryan Holznagel and Mike Dupee were
great Jeopardy players but besides having their Tournament of Champions won in
1995 and 1996 I really couldn't tell you of any single distinctive personality
trait. Gameplay is one thing, character is another.
This was true for pretty much the
next fourteen years. And honestly it wasn't a flaw but something I think most
viewers would respect. Indeed I'd argue its not a bug in the machinery but a
sign Jeopardy is working perfectly. Everyone who has appeared on Jeopardy
comes from every walk of life.
They're not actors or reality show stars; they're the average person.
They're lawyers, they're teachers, accountants, students, writers, engineers,
scientists, and while there are some actors, they're usually ones who didn't
get their big break. The only role you're being asked to play is a game show
contestant. You become a celebrity if you do well on Jeopardy, not the other
way around for most entertainment.
And that's the main reason why,
even though there are some fan sites devoted to Jeopardy, I only
occasionally visit them and anytime someone rags on a contestant for having a
personality they don't like – or indeed no personality at all – I roll my eyes.
They're trying to win money on a game show answering incredibly difficult
questions. They're not there to win likes and the raves of the online masses.
My only qualification for a great Jeopardy champion is the number of wins and
the amount of money they win. End of discussion. Likability doesn't enter to
it.
That was true, by and large, of
almost every super-champion while Alex Trebek was hosting. Oh, occasionally
there'd be some with formidable personalities such as James Holzhauer and
Austin Rogers but those were exceptions rather than the rule. I never
understood what made so many people repulsed by Arthur Chu during his eleven
game run or why Matt Jackson was considered so dynamic by fans. I admired them
both for their incredible gameplay and I asked for little more.
I'm not sure when exactly that
began to change. I don't think it began as much with the first wave of
super-champions but the first Jeopardy Masters. Having four of the winningest
Jeopardy players all of time sharing the stage with the winningest one in history
really helped bring it out. James Holzhauer embracing the label 'self-described
game show villain', Amy Schneider joking to Ken was it was like to after 40
wins because she had no one to compare it too, Mattea Roach increasing
relatability (particular in the aftermath of her father's death while the
tournament was being recorded), Matt Amodio's increasing wistfulness, Andrew
He's charm and the utter joy that was Sam Buttrey helped make me and I suspect
a generation of viewers really relate to Jeopardy champions in a way we hadn't
in the decade past. That has played out in every Masters that has followed –
and why I can only wait for whenever the 2026 one happens. (It's not on the
summer schedule though producers say it will happen.)
While several players in Season
39 had intriguing personalities such as Ray LaLonde and Troy Meyer that
combined with the endless postseason of Season 40 made it hard for them to
stand out. Then in the aftermath we've been getting more great Jeopardy players
who also have fascinating personalities.
We saw it with Drew Basile, who
had the added advantage of having been on Survivor and Isaac Hirsch with
his ridiculous suits and wonderful cheeriness, both of which were really on
display in last year's Masters. There was a bit more last year from Liam
Starnes being the first Jeopardy champion to be born during Ken Jennings run
(which made everyone, not just Ken feel old) Kevin Laskowski a priest who
seemed to know more about rap then the Bible and the lovable Drew Goins who
became a fan favorite even as he earned a Second Chance (and a third)
And then almost from the start of Season 42
it's been like great Jeopardy champions have suddenly become fascinating
characters to go with them. We saw this play out in the final weeks of
eligibility before the 2026 postseason began when Paolo Pasco, a crossword
puzzle designer managed to win seven games in the opening weeks of the season.
He was then defeated by Steven Olson, a band director who was just as much fun
to watch as he was to play. Then TJ Fisher, an overly cheerful champion, lucked
into 5 wins which would get him into the Tournament of Champions.
By the time the eligibility
period was over we were greeted by another super-champion the extremely likable
Harrison Whitaker, who won 14 games and $373,999. And ever since the postseason
ended it seems like we've been getting the kinds of storylines that, if they
took place in a soap opera, you wouldn't believe them.
Here's Jamie Ding, who wanted to
describe himself as a faceless bureaucrat in his introduction, a man who as a
boy had attended the National Geographic Bee that Alex Trebek had hosted. He
went on to just win and win until he finished in fifth place in both money won
and games won. The fact that's he also a child of immigrants and a person of
color has led him to be the kind of person that Jeopardy as much as the world
needs right now.
And how was he finally defeated?
The man who won 24 runaway games lost in a runaway to chess player Greg
Shahade. He won just 3 games and $74,602 but Jeopardy fans know that was more
then enough for Emma Boettcher, the play who ended James Holzhauer's streak
back in 2019, to be invited back to that year's TOC. That he isn't listed as qualified
yet is a formality at this point.
Then less than two weeks after
Jamie's run ended another super-champion arrived Tristan Williams. Tristan, who
the internet compared to Woody in the Toy Story franchise made a
different kind of history when he became the first player to win exactly 10
games. It's remarkable when you think about that in the 22 seasons since the
five game limit was removed we've had 9 game winners and eleven game winners
but no one who won ten. That meant we had three super-champions this season.
But wait, it actually gets
better. Tristan was defeated last Wednesday by Chris D'Angelo. Chris has spent
so much of his life to trying to make it onto Jeopardy that his sister Jen
turned into a TV movie for Hulu called Quiz Lady which would star
Awkwafina playing her brother and I suppose Sandra Oh is Jen. This film went on
to win the Emmy for Best TV Movie in 2024. And now two years after that Chris
finally made it on Jeopardy and today has officially qualified for the next Tournament
of Champions. Real life has duplicated fiction in the best possible way.
For all we know Chris may become
a super-champion in his own right but there's already another great storyline
for the 2027 Tournament of Champions. Not one but two super-champion
killers are going to be participating in the Tournament of Champions. The three
players who get byes into the semifinals have already won double digits in
games for the first time since the process was founded in 2022. And who else
will be participating in the next Tournament of Champions?
Why Ron Lalonde, the identical
twin brother of super-champion Ray Lalonde. Shonda Rhimes wouldn't write
this stuff!
Now to be clear we are very much
male heavy for the next Tournament of Champions: as of this writing only seven
players have qualified and all of them identify as male. That's unless you
count the winner of this year's Celebrity Jeopardy Mina Kimes, a journalist who
happens to be an analyst on ESPN. But that's an interesting storyline as well,
considering that one of the participants is the inspiration for a TV show. And
as I said in a previous article any celebrity whose willing to risk national
embarrassment competing against so many great Jeopardy players is okay in my
book.
It's never been a necessity for a
Jeopardy champion to have a good personality to go along with their great
gameplay for me and other viewers. I will say its added an additional layer of
pleasure to watching that I didn't realize I was missing or even needed. Just
to be clear all future Jeopardy players, it's still not a requirement in
your competitive play. But we're all glad when it happens.
And Chris? Now Awkwafina's going
to want to get pictures with you to make her look good.
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