Those of you who read my columns know
that when the 2026 Jeopardy Masters concluded I promised to be back this
weekend with an update for Season 43 before it began Monday. And I was
genuinely planning to do so – until I remembered my own history.
Ever since I began regularly covering Jeopardy
in my writing intentionally or not, a pattern has been developing. In the
post-Trebek era I don't start writing about each new season of Jeopardy until
something of importance happens. (Or in the case of Season 40 when nothing of
importance seemed to be happening.)
What was important? Basically someone
qualifying for the next Tournament of Champions. Sometimes you had to wait for
their run to end (as we did with Matt Amodio way back in the fall of 2021)
Sometimes you needed to wait for someone to qualify at all and that could take
a bit. But I figured I would be best served by waiting at least until the first
week of the season was over.
With good reason. At the end of Season
42 Matthew Riggle, a community college professor from Madison, Alabama had won
the last two games and $64,400. So if he could just make it until Wednesday
then he would officially qualify for the 2027 Tournament of Champions.
Which he has managed to do, though he
really made it look hard. In the season premiere he spent the entire game
trailing Bryan Lee and when he wagered everything on a Daily Double in Double
Jeopardy and lost it all, I thought it would end right there. But he managed an
impressive recovery and on a tough Final Jeopardy no one got right, he left
himself with enough money to win his third straight game. On Tuesday he was
challenged seriously by Wesley Jalipa and Abby Mullen but maintained his lead
throughout the game and ended up winning his fourth game.
So yesterday with $95,602 he just
needed one more win to officially get to the Tournament of Champions.
Unfortunately he proved to be his own worst enemy – though to be fair even if
he hadn't he almost certainly would have still lost.
Matthew led throughout the Jeopardy
round more due to the failures of his opponents Daniel Nicastro and Jen Spinoglio.
Both of them were in the red for much of it and while they recovered Matthew
finished it in the lead with $4800 to Jen's $2600 and Daniel's $400.
His odds improved as Dan got the first
Daily Double in Double Jeopardy wrong. Matthew moved up to $9600 when he found
the other Daily Double in UNFINISHED LIT. He wagered $7000:
Published posthumously in 1938, her
'The Buccaneers' wasn't about pirates but about love in the Gilded Age.
There was a long pause. Before time
ran out he guessed: "Who is…Stein?" He didn't know what I did it home:
it was Edith Wharton. He dropped to $2600.
After that Jen who'd been pretty quiet
during this round went on a run of her own. She finished the round with 20 correct
responses and only four incorrect ones and was helped by not finding a
Daily Double to end with $10,600. Matthew had to struggle to stop her from
running away with it and Dan, who at one point was at -$1900 had to fight to
finish in positive. Both achieved their goals: Matthew finished with $5400
while Daniel got the last clue of the game correct to end with $100.
But it was irrelevant because of how
Final Jeopardy went. The category was NAMES IN TECH NEWS:
This last name in A.I. news has the
same origin as a Latin name meaning 'lover of God' or 'loved by God.'
Now I had no idea what they were
talking about with this clue. Daniel wrote down: "What is Theodore?"
That was wrong and he lost $98.
Matthew was next. He wrote down:
"What is Amadeus?" Right idea but the wrong name. It cost him $5201,
leaving him with $199.
Jen was in pretty good shape and she
knew the correct last name. In fact she wrote it down almost immediately.
"What is Amodei?" That was correct. The founders of Anthropic are
Dario and Daniela Amodei. She added $201 to become the new champion with
$10,801.
But despite that Matthew is now
officially listed as the eleventh player qualified for the 2027 Tournament of
Champions. So now is as good a time as any to remind of you of the lineup we
have coming back for the 2027 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
Adam Remsen, 12 wins, $306,
415
Caleb Groen, 12 wins, $346,
698
Mina Kimes, Celebrity
Jeopardy All-Stars Winner
Matthew Riggle, 4 wins, $95,602.
I mentioned in my wrap-up of Season 42
that there were three three-game winners who, if past was prologue, would be invited
automatically to the Tournament of Champions. However, discretion being the
better part of valor, I'm going to wait until the eligibility requirements for
the 2025-2026 come to an end in November before I officially put them on the
roster. A lot can change in two months.
Besides it's already a formidable
lineup with five super-champions, one of whom is already a cultural phenomenon.
Jamie Ding, now the fifth best player in Jeopardy history in terms of games and
money one, has become a cultural sensation, appearing on Who Wants to Be A
Millionaire with Ben Affleck this summer, among other places. However there
are no guarantees in Jeopardy as Scott Riccardi ended up learning when he made
it to the Finals this past February.
Will someone the level of Paolo Pasco emerged
in the next two months? Will another super-champion rise during that period?
Anything can happen and your humble scribe will be there.
And once again congratulations to Jeopardy
for winning the Emmy for Best Game Show this year. Well-deserved.
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