After a thrilling finish in the
last two days of quarterfinals the semi-finals of the 2026 Jeopardy Masters
began with a perfect balance of the old and the new.
For the third straight year
Yogesh Raut and Victoria Groce had advanced to the semi-finals. In 2024
Victoria had prevailed over Yogesh and James Holzhauer. In 2025 Yogesh had
managed a come from behind victory to defeat Victoria and Juveria Zaheer.
Facing off against them was
Andrew He, a semi-finalist in the inaugural Jeopardy Masters who had managed an
incredible recovery in the last two games he'd played to leapfrog over last
year's second place winner Juveria Zaheer to make it into the semis. And Paolo
Pasco, this year's Tournament of Champions winner was in the semi-finals as
well.
So two of the previous three
Tournament of Champions winners were facing off against two of the last three
winners of the Jeopardy Invitational Tournament. There were quite a few stories
that could emerge in the four semi-final games that would determine the three
players who would make it to this year's two-game total point affair for
$500,000 and the title of this year's Jeopardy Masters.
As has been the case in every
single Jeopardy Masters to this point all four semi-finalists would play each
other in every single possible combination.
September 3rd
Semi-final Game 1
Victoria vs. Yogesh vs. Paolo
Victoria got off to such a fast
start in the Jeopardy round that by the time Paolo rung in Ken actually said:
'Not Victoria!' before acknowledging it was Paolo. She found the Daily Double
in: WE'RE PUTTING YOU ON OBLAST when she already had 5800 points. She bet
everything though she seemed unhappy:
She shouldn't have been:
The center of its oblast, this
celestial port of Northwest Russia was founded in 1584 near the monastery of
St. Michael.
She figured it out: What is
Archangel?' By that point she was firing on all cylinders. She had 14,800
points to Paolo's 3000 and Yogesh's 2000 by the end of the Jeopardy round.
Victoria got off to just as fast
a start in Double Jeopardy getting the first 3 clues correct before finding the
first Daily Double in NONFICTION. She had 20,400 already. Then she faltered
slightly:
This 2005 memoir is dedicated
"This book is for John and for Quintana.'
She paused: "What is Time
of Magical Thinking?" She had the right idea. But it was Joan Didion's
The Year of Magical Thinking.
It dropped her down 6000 points
to 14,400.
She found the other Daily Double
on the next clue in SCIENTISTS. She was more cautious and bet just 1600 points.
Her a-maize-ing discovering of
transposons or 'jumping genes' earned her a solo Nobel Prize in 1983.
This she responded to instantly:
"Who is McLintock?" She went back up to 16,000 points.
Victoria was never seriously
challenged for the lead during the rest of the game and she finished with
29,200 points. The battle was whether Yogesh could catch up to Paolo enough to
make him have to earn second place which he did on the last clue of the game to
finish with 3800 points to Paolo's 6600. That turned out to be critical with
Final Jeopardy.
The category was very odd. THE
NAME GAME. The clue completely baffled me but it didn't baffle two of the
competitors.
First in the news in the 1970s
her Amharic name is Dinkinesh, meaning 'You are marvelous'
Yogesh's response was revealed
first: What is Lucy? That was correct. It referred to the famous hominid
skeleton that was discovered in Ethiopia, named for the song Lucy in the Sky
with Diamonds. Yogesh bet everything to double his score to 7600 points.
Paolo had a bit of fun. He wrote
down: Make it to Final, Get Final correct. (In his interview segment he
mentioned each goal he had for each round of the Masters. As he pointed out he
had yet to get a single Final Jeopardy response correct.) It cost him 1001 and
dropped him to second place.
Victoria also knew the correct
response: "Who is Lucy?" And after saying hi to Nora yet again she
added 5367 points.
She got 3 match points, Yogesh
got one, Paolo got zero.
Match 2
Victoria vs. Paolo vs. Andrew
Victoria found the Daily Double
on the first pick of the Jeopardy round in PLAYS & PLAYWRIGHTS. She bet
1000 points.
In an absurdist play and allegory
by Ionesco the citizens of a small town turn into these animals, until only one
man remains.
She knew it. "What is
Rhinoceros?"
This time all three players were
on fire with them getting all thirty clues correct and much of it was a battle
for the lead. Victoria finished with 7000 points to Andrew's 6600 while Yogesh
was very much in it with 4800 points.
The streak ended on the first
pick in Double Jeopardy (Yogesh mocked Ken for jinxing them) and Yogesh had
moved into the lead for the first time with 11,400 points to Victoria's 8600
and Andrew's 8400. This time Victoria knew she had to bet everything when she
found the first Daily Double in WHERE THE 'L' IS IT?
This French city on the Vienne
river is known for its porcelain trinket boxes.
She figured it out: "What is
Limoges?" And went back into the lead in a big way with 17,200 points.
Two clues later she found the
other Daily Double in THAT WORD IS A MOUTHFUL!
With 20,400 points she wagered
400.
Ken: Not considering another true
Daily Double?
Victoria: "Are you
kidding?"
Writing about Napoleon is writing
history, writing about writing about Napoleon is this.
Instantly Victoria responded:
"What is historiography?"
That was correct. Immediately
afterward:
Ken: Do you wish you'd bet more
Victoria?
Victoria: I mean, you always wish
that in hindsight but it was the right decision.
Masters are always honest.
The rest of the game was whether
Andrew or Yogesh could stop Victoria from running away with it and while they
couldn't it was much closer then the first game of the night. Victoria finished
with 28,000 points, just running away with it over Yogesh's 12,800 points and
Andrew's 11,600 points. Once again those match points for second were very
important.
The Final Jeopardy category was
NOVELS OF THE 1960s.
The title of this 1966 book
refers to the shouts at an impending sale of a set of stamps at a mysterious
auction.
All three players knew the
correct response (as did I): What is The Crying of Lot 49? Thomas
Pynchon's first novel. (Yogesh actually referenced a famous Simpson's reference
before writing the correct response.)
Andrew wagered 4000 points,
taking him to 15,600 points. Yogesh went big betting 10,401 point finishing
with 23,201. Victora wagered just 282 points and won her second consecutive
game.
LEADERBOARD AT THE END OF
SEPTEMBER 4TH
VICTORIA GROCE – 6 MATCH POINTS
YOGESH RAUT – 2 MATCH POINTS
ANDREW HE – 0 MATCH POINTS
PAOLO PASCO – 0 MATCH POINTS
After the first game Victoria had
all but locked up her place in the third consecutive finals. But for the last
two spots it was anybody's to win – and the next game would completely reverse
the field.
September 5th
Match 1
Victoria vs. Andrew vs. Paolo
In the Jeopardy round Victoria
for the second consecutive game found the Daily Double early; this time on the
second clue in PICK YOUR LITERARY POISON. She had 800 points so yet again she
bet 1000:
In this Chaucer tale told by a
seller of indulgences, 2 men stab a friend to death, then die after drinking
wine he'd poisoned.
Victoria figured it out: What is The
Pardoner's Tale? She went up to 1800 points. And for the second consecutive
game it got competitive in large part due to quite a few errors on Victoria's
part. When the round ended she had 5000 points to Andrew's 3600 and Paolo's 1200.
Double Jeopardy was a bloodbath
due to a combination of incorrect responses and many clues unanswered. (This
isn't on the Masters; I had just as much trouble at home as the three of them
did. The writers were diabolical.) Paolo's best moment came when he found the
first Daily Double early in FRENCH WORDS & PHRASES. In third he bet the
2400 points he had:
Artist Damien Hirst and Eloise of
kids' books have both been described as this, more avant-garde and pretentious
then badly behaved.
Paolo paused. "All right I
apologize in advance for my pronunciation but What is enfant terrible?"
His pronunciation was fine and
got him up to 4800 points.
The rest of the round was very
much a war of attrition and by the time Andrew found the other Daily Double in
KING OF THE CASTLE he was in the lead with 7200 points. He took a long time
before deciding to wager 2000 points. He admitted to Ken he was thinking of
going bigger but in this case it was good he didn't:
It was best not to be by any windows
at this castle that was once the seat of the Kings of Bohemia.
There was a long pause. Before
time ran out Andrew guessed: "What is Wencelas's?" Which was wrong.
It was actually Prague Castle where the famous Defenestration took place in 1648.
(I knew that was they were referring to but I didn't know the castle was named
Prague.)
When it ended Victoria was in the
lead with 8600 points to Andrew's 6000 and Paolo's 5600. Any outcome was
possible for the first time in the semi-finals. The category for Final Jeopardy
was one I'd never heard before: GEOGRAPHIC NAMED PEOPLE.
And if that wasn't weird enough
the clue was even weirder, so much so it stumped all three players (and me
too.)
Giuliano Romano was a famed
Renaissance architect; this medieval builder is portrayed as a chump in
Vasari's 'Lives of the artists.'
Paolo's response was revealed first:
Who is Venetio? That was incorrect. But it only cost Paolo 404 points, leaving
him with 5196.
Next came Andrew. Who is Vitruvius?
That was also incorrect. He bet even less 316 points, putting him at 5684,
still in second place.
It was all on Victoria. She wrote
down: "Who is Palladio?" That was incorrect as well.
Vasari was an admirer of Romano,
who was from Rome as his name indicated, but he was 'dunking on' the man who
built the infamous Leaning Tower of Pisa. And I had no idea that the tower was
built by a man named Pisano.
It all came down to wagers.
Victoria bet 3401. She was clearly playing to win. It dropped her to 5199
points which dropped her into second place – and gave Andrew an unexpected come
from behind win and 3 match points.
LEADERBOARD AFTER GAME 3
VICTORIA GROCE – 7 MATCH POINTS
(CLINCHED)
ANDREW HE – 3 MATCH POINTS
YOGESH RAUT – 2 MATCH POINTS
PAOLO PASCO – 0 MATCH POINTS
So in the final game it was a
possibility for any combination of the last two semi-finalists.
If Yogesh won he and Andrew would
move on the to the finals regardless of who came in second.
If Andrew won, the same would
happen.
If Paolo could win and Yogesh
finished third he would make it automatically. If he won and Yogesh finished
second he still had a chance based on the tiebreaker.
Anything was still possible and
the final semi-final game more than delivered it.
Match 2
Andrew vs. Yogesh vs. Paolo
In the Jeopardy round despite the
fact the pressure was the most on him Paolo was at the peak of his power.
Already in the lead with 5400 points when he found the Daily Double in NEWS IN
BRIEF he bet everything:
June 4, 1942: U.S. Navy delivers
a K.O. Punch here.
It took him a moment but he got
there: "What is Midway?"
He finished the Jeopardy round
with 11,000 points to Andrew's 4800 and Yogesh's 3000 even.
Andrew got to the first Daily
Double in Double Jeopardy at a critical point. He had 6400 points to Paolo's
11,000. The category was LITERARY OPENERS. You had to give the book of which
the opening sentence would be quoted. However he decided to be cautious and bet
just 2000 points.
Selden paused in surprise. In the
afternoon rush…his eyes had been refreshed by the eyes of Miss Lily Bart.
He knew it was The House of
Mirth and went up to 8400 points.
Later in the game Yogesh got a
chance to make a move when he found the other Daily Double in GEOGRAPHY DOWN
BELOW. At the time he had 9000 points to Andrew's 10,000 while Paolo was still
at 11,000. He went bigger than Andrew had betting 6000 points:
The U.S International Trade Organization
on this region discusses Kenya and Angola but not Libya.
Yogesh pondered this a long time.
Before time was almost up he clearly guessed: What is The Great Rift Valley? It
was actually sub-Saharan Africa. He dropped to 3000 points.
The rest of the game was a see-saw
battle between Paolo and Andrew for the lead. Paolo would pull ahead but the
question was could Yogesh get up to a high enough total to challenge Andrew and
Paolo for the lead if he needed too. He did. Yogesh finished with 8600 to
Andrew's 14,400 and Paolo's 17,000.
For the first time in Masters
short history the final two spots in the finals came down to Final Jeopardy in
the last semifinal match. The category was HISTORIC AMERICANS:
A creed once mentioned by the U.S.
Special forces mentions him, born c. 1732 and calls him the father of guerilla
warfare.
Yogesh's response was revealed
first. He clearly thought his time was over because he wrote down (It was fun)
under his correct response: "Who is Marion?" That was correct. Like
me, he knew the clue referred to Frances Marion, the American revolutionary
known as the Swamp Fox. He bet 5801 which mut him at 14,401, ahead of Andrew.
Andrew was next. He also had
Marion and he added 3333 points, putting him at 17,733 points.
It was all on Paolo who had yet
to get a Final Jeopardy correct throughout the Masters. And unfortunately for
him that streak continued. He wrote down: "Who is Jones?", thinking
of John Paul Jones and Naval warfare. He wagered 2500 points, which dropped him
to 14,500. It was good enough for second place but Andrew had managed his
second come from behind victory.
FINAL LEADERBOARD ON SEPTEMBER 5TH
VICTORIA GROCE – 7 MATCH POINTS
ANDREW HE – 6 MATCH POINTS
YOGESH RAUT – 2 MATCH POINTS
PAOLO PASCO – 1 MATCH POINT
(ELIMINATED)
For Andrew it was the greatest
possible redemption after being eliminated in the semi-finals of the very first
Masters. For Paolo he had been superb in every aspect of the game save for
Final Jeopardy and that finally caught up with him at the worst possible
moment. He goes home in fourth place with another $100,000 to his credit and a
near certainty that we will be seeing him back sooner then we think.
The finals will take place
Tuesday with Andrew, Victoria and Yogesh fighting it out in what is certain to
be a thrilling battle. Can Yogesh win back-to-back? Will Victoria reclaim her title?
Or for the fourth consecutive year will a new winner of Jeopardy Masters. The
answer is… we'll find out Tuesday.
Stay tuned.
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