Here We Go: Jeopardy Masters 2026 Recap, Part 1: August 25th

 

Well Jeopardy fans here's the way to wrap up the summer. The 2026 Jeopardy Masters is about to take place.

In a sense the producers have moved backwards. After experimenting with a new format involving knockout rounds and 9 Masters which produced a fair amount of backlash among fans, the producers have gone back to the previous method. This year there are only six Jeopardy masters and nine games. Six days of quarterfinals with twelve games being played, then two nights of semi-finals with four games and a two day total point affair with the winner receiving $500,000.

In a different one they've moved forward. They've scheduled this year's Masters in August while the flagship show is in reruns, in large part repeating the paths that led this year's newcomers to the Masters. And all nine games will be played on as close to consecutive nights as possible. Starting tonight the first four games will be played Tuesday to Friday, next week they will wrap up the quarterfinals and semifinals on and on Tuesday September 8^th the finale will be played.

In a sense this can only help boost the ratings for the Masters, which flagged quite a bit last year. There's less competition for ratings in August then in May and by airing all the episodes pretty close to back to back sustained viewership will be easier for the fanbase.

As a reminder here's the lineup:

Yogesh Raut, winner of the 2025 Jeopardy Masters

Victoria Groce, second runner up in the 2025 Masters, winner of the 2024 Jeopardy Masters.

Juveria Zaheer, first runner-up in the 2025 Jeopardy Masters.

 

And the newcomers:

Paolo Pasco, winner of the 2026 Tournament of Champions

Andrew He, winner of the 2026 Jeopardy Invitational Tournament.

Long Nguyen, runner-up in the 2026 Jeopardy Invitational Tournament and the official producers choice.

 

I suspect there is going to be less controversy about Long Nguyen being the producer's choice then Amy Schneider in 2024. That year it seemed the producers were rigging the game to get a former Jeopardy Master and Tournament of Champions winner into the Masters. Considering that Long's biggest accomplishment was winning one of the 2024 Jeopardy Second Chance Tournaments prior to being invited back to this year's Invitational it's a lot easier to believe he's there for fan recognition. Besides there were four other previous Masters participants in this year's Invitational that would have been a much bigger draw then Long.

Paolo made history this year when he became the first player in the new format of the Jeopardy Tournament of Champions to win in three consecutive games. Furthermore in every single one of his TOC appearances he managed a runaway victory which puts him on the shortlist for one of the great Jeopardy TOC players already. Andrew He is no stranger to the Jeopardy Masters having appeared in the inaugural one and finished in a tie for third place with Mattea Roach, losing on a tiebreaker. He was part of the inaugural JIT and made it all the way to the finals where he was beaten by Victoria Groce and then Amy  Schneider was chosen ahead of him. (We'll soon find out if he holds a grudge.) Andrew's already faced off against the best of the best, finishing second only to James Holzhauer in the first round of  the 2023 Masters. But he has yet to face off against any of the current group.

Long has already beaten two Jeopardy Masters, defeating Adriana Harmeyer in the quarterfinals of this year's Invitational and beating Roger Craig in the finals. He has experience against Andrew already.  And as Juveria can attest, Second Chance Winners can do quite well in the Masters.

So here is my day by day breakdown of the 2026 Jeopardy Masters. After each game like with the show itself I will show you the leaderboard. And because I want to keep myself humble I will also tell you what I wrote down for Final Jeopardy after every game.

 

Tuesday August 25, 2026

Game 1

Andrew vs. Paolo vs Long

Game 1 had the newcomers face off and it was a slow start for all three. Paolo got to the Daily Double in the Jeopardy round early with 800 points and wagered the 1000 he could in TRANSPARENT. It did not go well:

In 1928 German firm Rohm & Haas produced acrylic glass and in 1933 they trademarked this transparent wonder.

Paolo paused before guessing: "What is Pyrex?" It was actually Plexiglass. At that point he was at -200 points. So the fact that he managed to recover from this and move all the way up to 5400 point at the end proved how on fire he was.

All three newcomers were in the red at one point in the Jeopardy round. Long finished it with -400 points. Andrew was in second with 1400.

In Double Jeopardy Paolo was helped immensely by the category FOUND IN MISTRANSLATION. The category was made up of words found entirely in 'mistranslation' and Paolo, who designs crossword puzzles for a living, has always done well with clues involving wordplay. As soon as he got control of the board for the first time he went to it, got the 1200 and 1600 point clues correct and found the first Daily Double in the 2000 point clue. He was relatively conservative and bet 4500 points of the 9800 he already had:

In part from Arabic, it's an engraved stone or object meant to protect against disease.

He figured it out: "What is talisman?" He went up to 14,300 points. (He would run the entire category.

Not long after that Long got the next two clues correct and got out of the red. He then found the other Daily Double in PLACES TO VISIT. Though he had but 400 points he wagered 2000 and it was clear he was nervous about going back into the red.

This national park located between Alamogordo and Las Cruces is filled with dunes of gypsum.

Long took a considerable time before clearly guessing: "What is White Sands?" That was correct and he went up to 2400 points.

Everyone made their share of mistakes in Double Jeopardy, including Paolo. But at the end of Double Jeopardy Paolo was still in the lead with 18,300, Long was next with $6800 and Andrew was in third with 2200 points. Because of the scores it was predetermined who would finish where but all three tried their best with Final Jeopardy. It was however an incredibly difficult clue.

The category was MEDICINE. Arne Larsson received the first of these October 8^th 1958 and eventually about 25 more as he outlived his physicians."

Andrew couldn't come up with anything but lost nothing. Long tried to write something down but nothing. He lost 2000 points leaving him with 4800.

Paolo had a runaway but took it seriously. He wrote down: "What is a heart transplant?" It was actually the first pacemaker as Ken told us "They had to be replaced much more often before the invention of lithium batteries."

(He was closer then me. I guessed the measles vaccine.)

He wagered just 625 and clinched his first Jeopardy Masters victory and his sixth consecutive runaway game. An impressive Jeopardy Masters debut by any standard.

 

Interview Segment: Long said ever since he got the call for Masters earlier this year he'd been doing nothing but prepping playing over 500 games in the Jeopardy simulator. Paolo told us what a thrill ride it was considering he'd made his Jeopardy debut just this past season. (His first appearance was in the first week of Season 42 which is remarkable.) Andrew discussed how when he'd recorded the first Masters they'd actually paused taping for the birth of his son who's now 3 and a half.

 

 

Game 2

Yogesh vs. Juveria vs. Victoria

This rematch of the finals of last year's Jeopardy Masters was more thrilling from start to finish. Victoria managed to strike first in the Jeopardy round when she found the Daily Double in one of the old standards for Jeopardy Tournaments 'INITIALS TO ROMAN NUMERALS TO NUMBERS'.

For those who don't know, they gave you a person's name. You took their initials which were Roman Numerals then you had to give the number.

Victoria had 2800 points and decided it was early enough to bet it all.

For the Italian-born woman who wrote: 'It is necessary that the child teach himself and then the success is great.

It didn't take her a moment. What is 2000? (Maria Montessori, MM.) From that point on Victoria would never relinquish the lead but it was never easy. Victoria finished with 9600 points to Yogesh's 5400 and Juveria's 2800.

In Double Jeopardy Victoria came out swinging but Juveria got to the first Daily Double in UNSILENT 'P' SCIENCE. The MD wagered the 3000 points she had:

It's the 'P' in PET scan, an imaging technique useful for studying structures of the heart and the brain. She knew it was positron and moved into second place.

Then she lost 1600 points and found the other Daily Double in MUSEUMS & COLLECTIONS. Once again she bet everything, this time 4400 points.

In Bogota, you'll find the Museo Del this 3 letter palabra (What kings and conquistadors thirsted over).

This took a moment longer. "What is oro?" (the museum of gold). She was back at 8800 points.

Despite her best efforts Juveria couldn't close the gap and at the end of Double Jeopardy Victoria had 24,800 points to Juveria's 12,400, giving her a lock-tie for first place. Yogesh had finished with 8600 points.

It was unlikely Juveria was going to challenge for first this early in Masters so the battle was going to be for second.

The Final Jeopardy category was ANCIENT LANDS. Zarathustra means 'camel owner' and he was 'the Sage of' this ancient land of what's now North Afghanistan and South Tajikistan. (For the record I wasn't even in the right region of the globe. I wrote down Mesopotamia.)

Yogesh's response was revealed first. "What is Bactria?" Which is still associated with camels today. He bet 3801, moving him up to 12,401 points into second place.

Next was Juveria. She wrote down: "What is Tamurid?" That was obviously incorrect. She lost 4801, dropping her down to 7599.

It was irrelevant whether Victoria was correct or not. But she also had Bactria (along with the requisite 'Hi, Nora!). She wagered 1 point and struck first.

Interviews: Victoria said she had done as much preparation this year because she was busy writing her first book which had to do with quiz shows. Juveria told us that prior to being invited to the Jeopardy Masters she had been considering retiring because in two years' she'd been in every Tournament there was and it was becoming exhausting for her children. (She pointed to them in the audience. )And then after doing so well they decided: "This is great. Why would you ever pass this up?" Yogesh told a heartrending story about when he was coming back from winning the Masters he was taking the escalator on LAX and was nearly run over when his suitcase toppled over. Two complete strangers helped him one by rescuing him and the other by picking up his suitcase. He wanted to use the opportunity to thank them on national television. In addition to being grateful he was okay Ken implored Yogesh: "Next time you're out here, please take the elevator."

 

 

 

Leaderboard After August 25^th

 

Victoria Groce – 3 Match Points

Paolo Pasco – 3 Match Points

Yogesh Raut – 1 Match Point

Long Nguyen – 1 Match Point

Andrew He – 0 Match Points

Juveria Zaheer – 0 Match Points

 

We're off to a great start of this year's Masters. Tomorrow in Game 2 Paolo and Victoria will face off for the first time. What else will happen? Stay tuned to this spot for all the details!