Season 42 Update: Five Weeks Spent With Three Superb Jeopardy Champions

 

 

On May 13^th 2022 Ryan Long would begin an impressive 16 game winning streak that marked him the fifth and last of five Jeopardy greats who achieved super-champion status that incredible year. What few noted – certainly not me – was that something equally remarkable would happen over the next six weeks. Ryan Long would eventually be defeated by Eric Ahasic who win six games of his own before losing to Megan Wachspress who would also win six games.

Last year I remarked on the phenomena known as 'clusters of Jeopardy champions' where several five or six game winners appear within days of each other's appearance. What I didn't realize until this week was that Ryan, Eric and Megan had done something in its own way equally impressive. It was the first time in Jeopardy history that three players had won five or more games back to back to back.

The reason I didn't notice was because it really did seem like a statistical anomaly and until it happened again there was no reason to talk about it. Cut to four years later – almost four years to the day in fact -  when on May 9^th Tristan Williams would begin a ten game streak until he was defeated by Chris D'Angelo who won eight consecutive games until he was beaten by Peter McFerrin who managed to win six games before he finally lost in heartbreaking if far from unprecedented fashion for any Jeopardy champion. It's not as perfect symmetry as with Season 38  - Ryan, Eric and Megan managed to 28 straight games where as these three won 'only' 24 – but its impressive nonetheless, especially when you consider just how good all three of them were.

As I wrote in regard to Tristan's original run he was pretty comparable to the kind of super-champion Ryan was: a lot of runaways but also a lot of incorrect Final Jeopardys which led to very low paydays as a result. Tristan did better overall then Ryan during his period – he managed to win $221,902 in ten games, a total that it took Ryan 12 in order to get that high -  but Tristan was able to do better when it was a clutch situation then Ryan. In the last three games of Tristan's run he managed to get Final Jeopardy right every single time and since none of them were even close to runaways that was vital. But he never managed very impressive paydays during his streak –  he managed to top $30,000 twice and he ended up getting more Final Jeopardys incorrect then he did correctly.

Chris was better than Eric in that he won more games then him but not much better. In his six victories he managed $160,601, much less than Chris's $124,201 during his first six games. It helped immensely that on his seventh win Eric managed a $50,000 payday something that Tristan never even came close to getting in his entire run. But he had his share of troubles both with Daily Doubles and Final Jeopardys during that period and that combination came to bring him down against Peter McFerrin last Monday.

It's not really fair to compare Peter to Megan, considering that on his second game he won $50,000 which is very close to what Megan managed in her entire run. (Sorry Megan but you did win only $60,603 in six games.) For Peter, however, nothing came easy and I'm not just talking about in terms of the competition. Throughout the run it really did appear that Peter was playing in some kind of physical pain that may have been hampering his ability to play at his best.

That said, credit must be given to his competitors as one could make a great argument for a Second Chance player in every game he was a part of.

When he defeated Chris Camryn Bell managed an impressive $10,200 with 14 correct answers and no mistakes. Considering she came between two impressive players that usually gets you an invite no questions asked.

Peter's second win was a great runaway but Alex Reyes and Savanah Madeira kept his honest until Double Jeopardy.

In Game 3 Gil Hamel and Gabriel Berkowitz were masterful with both finishing with impressive figures at the end of Double Jeopardy: $11,000 and $9000 to Peter's $16,000. It came down to Final Jeopardy and all three responded incorrectly. Peter kept enough behind so that he could move on.

By all marks it should have ended the following day when Webster Guan took the lead in Double Jeopardy and never relinquished it. Peter finished behind him with $11,400 to Webster's $13,600. Fortunately Peter was the only one to get Final Jeopardy correct and he moved on.

Game 5 was another runaway but that was mainly because of bad luck by Seth McElroy. He found all three Daily Doubles and missed all three. By the very definition of the term he's earned a second chance. On a side note, no one responded correctly on Final Jeopardy that day either.(Stumped me at home too)

Yesterday Alejandro Sobalvarro kept close to Peter in the Jeopardy round until he found the Daily Double. Early in Double Jeopardy he got both Daily Doubles back to back and took the lead away from him. Unfortunately for Alejandro he only got one correct answer the rest of the round while Peter went on a tear to finish with $24,800 to Alejandro's $15,600.  This time Peter needed to get Final Jeopardy correct to ensure his victory and he did winning another $31,201.

 

Peter, while not being the inspiration for an Emmy winning TV movie due to his efforts to get on the show, nevertheless comes from good Jeopardy stock himself.  As he mentioned in his first interview he was on a pub quiz team with Tournament of Champions and reigning Jeopardy Masters winner Yogesh Raut and attended the same high school with James Holzhauer. That will make for interesting stories when the 2027 Tournament of Champions occurs – as well as a wonderful storyline matching up him and Chris. (I think I see the plot for the next film in the franchise.)

For the record in chronological order  here are the eight players who have officially qualified so far for next year's Tournament of Champions:

 

Harrison Whitaker, 14 wins, $373,999

Will Riley: 4 wins, $77,403

James Denison, 4 wins, $99,400

Jamie Ding, 31 wins, $882,605

Tristan Williams, 10 wins, $221,902

Chris D'Angelo, 8 wins, $194, 201

Peter McFerrin, 6 wins, $147,399

Mina Kimes, Celebrity Jeopardy All-Stars Winner

 

And here are the 3-game winners who are not yet officially qualified but based on Jeopardy's track record in the last few years we will almost certainly see again:

Ron Lalonde: $52,501

James Hirsh, $67,418

Greg Shahade, $74,602

Greg and Ron are shoo-ins because of what their Jeopardy track record in regards to super-champions. Ron is the twin brother of super-champ Ray Lalonde and Greg managed to defeat Jamie Ding.

So even though there have been barely 100 games of eligibility for the 2027 Tournament of Champions since last November we have a formidable roster already in place. I'll admit it is fairly testosterone heavy but we do have another six weeks left in Season 42 to play but anything can happen on Jeopardy and this season, practically anything already has.  When it does, I'll be there to keep you informed.