For the Next Tournament of Champions Jeopardy Is Going Old School

 

In the first five full seasons of the post-Trebek era on Jeopardy I've seen a lot of changes on how the show does things. I haven't been against every damn one of them but I've against a lot of them. Yet over the last year or so I'm become resigned to the possibility that this was the way things were.

So imagine my astonishment – and delight – to know that for the next Tournament of Champions Jeopardy is getting back to its roots. After every Tournament of Champions has tried to shift the format to its most elastic this year we are going back to basics.

The official eligibility period for the 2027 Tournament of Champions ended at the conclusion of the 2025-2026 season. For the first decade of Jeopardy that was the standard, then it became more elastic overtime and it may end up shifting again. What is different is that for the first time since the 2021 Tournament of Champions Jeopardy is going back to the format that millions of fans like myself loved and rejoiced in.

There were certainly hints of it during the 2025-2026 season, in both Champions Wild Card and a variation of it in the Jeopardy Invitational Tournament that year. But I'll be honest, I really thought it was a bone that was being tossed to traditionalists and not something the show would ever go back to. I've never been so grateful to be proven wrong.

Whenever the next Tournament of Champions takes place it will follow the format that all Tournaments during the Alex Trebek era following: fifteen participants facing off in five quarterfinal matches with the five winners advancing along with four wild card spots for the high scorers among non-winners. We will then have the three semi-final matches that will lead to three winners and then – well, honestly I don't know about that part yet.

 But whatever method they choose whether it's a two game total point affair or they go back to the first to three winning the tournament, I don't think I care. Because ever since the Second Chance and Champions Wild Card tournaments were established, despite the admitted talent of such players as Juveria Zaheer and Long Nguyen (both of whom more than proved themselves in the last Jeopardy Masters) the bad has outweighed the good. Endless postseason aside, it has done much to diminish the overall effect of the Tournament of Champions as being about the best of the best, even if in none of them have any of the winners even made it as far as the finals. Last year the show did much to limit their presence and it is likely that will continue in the postseason this January.

There's the also the fact by expanding the roster at all and adding the byes they were limiting the ability of many of the best players to advance. That much can't be blamed on the format – the one thing you can predict about a Jeopardy Tournament is that you absolutely can't predict who'll win – but it definitely was a factor.

Now in what seems to have been a moment of clarity for the producers they have restored order to a system that many fans, even at its best, felt was chaotic. And they may have actually redeemed themselves in the minds of many, certainly myself by listening to us.

And even those who might complain about going backwards will be hard pressed to be annoyed considering just how many incredible Jeopardy players are here. Because this has been a season of super-champions and some of the best Jeopardy players in history.

So Jeopardy fans with authority here is your official roster for the 2026 TOC – at least so far:

Jamie Ding, 31 wins, $885,605

Harrison Whitaker, 14 wins, $374,999

Caleb Groen, 12 wins, $346,968

Adam Remsen, 12 wins, $306,415

Tristan Williams, 10 wins, $222,902

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

Peter McFerrin, 6 wins, $147,399

James Denison, 4 wins, $99,400

Will Riley, 4 wins, $80,403

Greg Shahade, 3 wins, $74,602

James Hirsh, 3 wins, $67,418

Ron Lalonde, 3 wins, $53,501

Mina Kimes, Celebrity Jeopardy All-Stars Winner

And apparently Jeopardy made a mistake in last year's Champions Wild Card. Late in Double Jeopardy Stella Trout bet everything on the last Daily Double. Her response was ruled incorrect. However the producers realized within one day of the game ended that Stella's response should have ruled correct.

Had that happened she would have gone into Final Jeopardy having locked up the Wild Card Tournament and would have gone into the 2026 Tournament of Champions.

So in a mea culpa of epic proportions Stella is getting yet another Second Chance and has been invited to participate in the 2027 Tournament of Champions. Honestly given just how well she played in Champions Wild Card all the way through hard to pretend she hasn't earned it.

The last spot will be determined in the same fashion it was back in Season 42 postseason with the Second Chance Tournaments and the winners going to compete in Champions Wild Card for that final spot. Once I know the official roster so will you.

This was already going to be a thrilling Tournament even before the eligibility requirements were set up. For the first time we will have a roster of super-champions competing in an Alex Trebek style Jeopardy format. This will lead to a greater level of strategy then the post-Trebek style tournaments which have basically been win or go home for every quarterfinal match. We haven't seen this play out since the 2021 Tournament of Champions and it'll be interesting to see how all the players handle it.

There's also the storylines involving so many of the participants. Tristan was defeated by Chris and Chris was defeated by Peter. Greg famously defeated Jamie Ding so there's the possibility of James Holzhauer-Emma Boettcher type narrative if they face off.

Then there are the personal narratives. Chris D'Angelo revealed that his efforts to get on Jeopardy were the source for the Emmy winning TV movie Quiz Lady which means if this goes a certain way we may see a fictional version of this tournament streaming on TV. Ron LaLonde is Ray LaLonde's identical twin brother and Ray LaLonde was a super-champion who failed to advance past the quarterfinals. So Ron might be trying to avenge the family honor.

And of course Jamie Ding's incredible performance in which he became the fifth best player in Jeopardy history both in games and money won in his original run has already become one of those players whose fame has transcended Jeopardy. Just this past summer he appeared on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire with Ben Affleck and has already made quite a few pop culture lists before.

But as Jeopardy fans know being a super-champions means squat in the Tournament of Champions. Ryan Long and Jonathan Fisher famously couldn't get past their quarterfinals and Mattea Roach was flattened in her semi-final against Andrew He. And in addition to Ray LaLonde, Cris Panullo who himself was ranked fifth in money won in his original appearance couldn't was trounced in a runaway victory in the 2024 Tournament of Champions by Jared Watson.

Whenever the 2027 Tournament of Champions happens (the eta is either January or February) it will be of epic performance. New breed super-champions in an old school format.

It also means (heh heh) that Matthew Riggle will have a longer wait for his appearance to the Alex Trebek stage. So I'm going to wait until the end of October to give my first official report on whose going to be appearing on Jeopardy in the 2028 Tournament of Champions. There have been some developments there but I'll save that for later.