10 Jeopardy! Players I Would Love to See Brought Back for J! Invitational (JIT)
As the tournament for Jeopardy! Masters comes to a close, we look ahead to a new tournament that feeds in one player to the next Jeopardy! Masters tournament.
Breaking Down Jeopardy! Invitational (JIT)
Last night, Jeopardy! Masters wrapped up the semifinal games and the finals are set to air tonight, in which the three finalists will be competing in a two-game total point affair for the $500,000 grand prize. All three finalists will appear again in next year’s Masters tournament, while the three eliminated players will be put into the all new Jeopardy! Invitational tournament, which currently doesn’t have a set airdate. The winner of this tournament will be included in next year’s Masters, alongside the three finalists from this year’s Masters, the winner of the 2023 Tournament of Champions, and one player chosen by the producer. The Jeopardy! Invitational tournament is one of several new tournaments announced by executive producer Michael Davies, though it’s not clear whether it’ll be syndicated or in primetime.
As we wait for a taping and airdate, I wanted to share ten players that I would personally love to see invited back. For the sake of unpredictability, I decided to exclude all double-digit champions (10 wins or more) and TOC winners from the list. This includes players such as Buzzy Cohen, Sam Kavanaugh, Ryan Long, Julia Collins, Arthur Chu, Matt Jackson, Alex Jacob, Roger Craig, Brad Rutter, and others who fit the description, as I imagine they’re already likely to be given an invitation for those reasons alone. I will also state that for the record, I definitely don’t expect all or even half of these players to be chosen. I wouldn’t particularly be surprised if none of them are there. With all that being said, here are the ten players I chose, with their total winnings, as of May 23rd, in parentheses.
1.) Larissa Kelly ($661,930)
With a 6-day total of $222,597 in regular winnings, a second place finish in the 2009 TOC, and a three-way split of $1,000,000 between her, Brad Rutter, and David Madden for winning the 2019 All-Star Games, Larissa Kelly is one of the biggest winners in the show’s history, comfortably sitting in the top 10. It almost feels like cheating putting her here, as she is already pretty high profile and generally assumed to be a lock for the tournament, but we aren’t sure yet how many people are going to be invited.
When she first appeared on the show in May of 2008, she immediately proved to be one of the most menacing players of all time, capitalizing on $15,000 from both Daily Doubles in the second round of her first game, and accumulating $42,200 before Final Jeopardy! where she added an extra $3,000 to win with $45,200. With a Coryat score of $30,400 and 30 correct responses in this game, it marked for one of the strongest debut games in Jeopardy! history. Despite lacking runaway games in her original run, she still averaged roughly $37,000 per game, going toe-to-toe with Troy Meyer and Roger Craig.
There isn’t really much more that I could say about her run to convince the world that she should be there, but I will say that when I first witnessed her run at the age of 11, it encapsulated me and still stands as one of the most memorable and exciting runs I’ve ever seen on TV. She’s quick on the buzzer, gutsy on the wagering, and has a very extensive quizzing background. I know I said I wouldn’t be particularly surprised if none of my choices make it, but I’d genuinely be dumbfounded if Larissa isn’t at least given an invitation.
2.) Bruce Seymour ($305,989)
This is definitely more of a legacy pick, but I had to make room. Bruce Seymour first competed on Jeopardy! on New Years Eve of 1987, where he won $15,190 in his first game, which amounts to $30,380 in current dollar values. He proceeded to win three more games in his original run before losing his fifth game in a hotly-contested match between him and Janet Holzer. Despite losing this game, he still earned enough in four games to qualify for the 1988 TOC, where he played a strong quarterfinal match but didn’t collect enough money for a wildcard spot in the semifinals.
Normally, for a player in the early days with a track record like this, their Jeopardy! career wouldn’t last much longer. A couple years later, however, a special primetime tournament was announced under the name of Super Jeopardy! in 1990. This was the first major tournament of all-time greats during the daily syndicated era of Jeopardy! (1984-present), with 36 players chosen to compete for the top prize of $250,000, including one player from the original daytime version of Jeopardy! hosted by Art Fleming.
The quarterfinal matches were unique in that rather than the traditional format of three players, there were actually four lecterns. Values went from 200 to 1000 in the first round, but 500 to 2500 in the second round. With four players per quarterfinal game, this served a total of nine quarterfinal matches, in which the winners of each match would then play a regular semifinal game in hopes for a spot in the finals. Bruce managed to squeak out a win against Fleming era player Burns Cameron, Rich Lerner, and Liz Caccese in the quarterfinals, and then boosted himself further by winning his semifinal match against Keith Walker and Roger Storm.
Against 1987 TOC 1st and 2nd place finishers Bob Verini and Dave Traini, respectively, they played one final game for $250,000. Dave had negged himself out of contention for Final Jeopardy! but Bruce had 28,200 JepCoins™ (points) compared to 16,900 for Bob. Bruce was the only player to respond correctly, adding 5,601 to win with 33,801 points and a grand prize of $250,000. With this colossal victory, Bruce Seymour was the highest-earning Jeopardy! player of all time until 2002, when Brad Rutter won the Million Dollar Masters, held in May that year.
Despite this obviously historical win, Bruce has not appeared on the show since then and his ranking on the all-time leaderboard has dropped quite a bit as the stakes have gotten much higher over the years. According to this New York Times article about him, Bruce would be in his 70s now. Players like Sam Buttrey and Dan Melia have proven, however, that age is just a number, and it would be really special to see Bruce appear for the first time in over three decades.
3.) Emma Boettcher ($198,002)
This pick is also pretty straightforward, as I imagine many recent fans of the show instantly recognize Emma Boettcher as the woman who defeated James Holzhauer in her first game on June 3rd, 2019. This game is also established as the overall best-played game by all three players in the show’s history, as the three scored a Combined Coryat of $53,200 out of a possible $54,000. Her winnings didn’t just stop here though, unlike every giant killer before her, as she proceeded to win two more games in her initial run before losing her 4th game in a hotly-contested three-way match between her, Brendan Roach (who won), and Salomé Gonstad.
Normally, as she was ranked below seven other players who had each won four games that season, this would be the end of Emma’s tenure. That is, until an opening for one last spot in the 2019 TOC became available following the unfortunate passing of 2018 Teachers Tournament winner Larry Martin ($100,000) in January of that year. Following Ryan Bilger’s 4th win, who was the alternate for that year before competing in the 2021 TOC, Jeopardy! put out a YouTube video announcing the field early, with Emma as a surprise addition to the line-up. It was clear that the producers were pushing for a rematch instantly.
Despite her inclusion, she was not at all coddled in her tournament matches, facing off against some high-tier players in Josh Hill, Eric Backes, Kyle Jones, and Dhruv Gaur. Regardless, she won both her quarterfinal and semifinal matches, making a rematch with James Holzhauer come into fruition, with 2019 Teachers Tournament winner Francois Barcomb filling in the third gap. Francois was a non-factor in the finals, but James and Emma both scored the highest two-day final scores in Tournament of Champions history, with Emma’s day 2 score beating out James’s score, $38,600 to $27,597. Despite this, James vastly outscored Emma in day 1, so he took home the $250,000 prize, with Emma taking $100,000.
Given the results of Jeopardy! Masters, Emma may be one of the few players left who can consistently keep up with Holzhauer’s gameplay, and even though she was included in the 2019 TOC as a discretion pick, I can’t help but feel like the absence of Emma in a tournament like this would be a grim omission and a missed opportunity.
4.) Catherine Ramen ($110,000)
In the last few years, transgender people have been becoming a lot more visible in public media. On Jeopardy! alone, trans women such as Amy Schneider and Hannah Wilson have taken the show by storm, winning several games and earning enough money to place in the top 50 of all-time winnings. Before Amy and Hannah, though, was another highly successful trans champion who went under the radar over the years, due to not appearing since 2005 but also never competing under her current identity while on the show.
Catherine Ramen first appeared on the show in September of 1997, where she won 5 games and $61,000, which translates to $122,000 in current dollar values. She was then invited to the 1998 TOC as a result, where she advanced to the semifinals as a wildcard before losing to eventual tournament winner Dan Melia, taking home $5,000. She would appear twice more in 2005, during the Ultimate TOC, demolishing her round 1 match to win $34,000 but losing her round 2 match to Michael Rooney.
In 2013, an audience vote was held to determine the final player to represent the 1990s in the 2014 Battle of the Decades. Catherine was one of five choices, along with Brian Weikle, Michael Daunt, Melizza Zygmunt, and Shane Whitlock. Although she had some passionate supporters, Shane Whitlock won the audience vote, so she did not appear in this tournament. With the meteoric rise of trans and non-binary players such as Amy Schneider, Hannah Wilson, Mattea Roach, Rowan Ward, and others, I believe this would be a grand opportunity for the show to recognize their (probably) first major transgender champion, for the first time as her true self.
5.) Leonard Cooper ($100,000)
Leonard Cooper’s Jeopardy! journey has been a pretty unusual one. After winning his quarterfinal match in the 2013 Teen Tournament, he actually lost his semifinal match to 8th grader, at the time, Nilai Sarda. Presumptively, this would mark the end of his appearance, but there was a catch. In the previous semifinal match, all three players finished with $0, meaning that no one would advance to the finals. The third finalist would be determined by wildcard, a.k.a. the player who finished with the highest non-winning score in the semifinals. In this very game, opponent and leader before Final Jeopardy! Emily Greenberg made a costly bet on the final clue, only wagering $6,000 and leaving Leonard and Nilai with more room, as both players bet nearly everything of their already very impressive scores. With $30,200 for Leonard compared to $24,400 for Emily, Leonard became the third finalist.
In the finals, Leonard had a rough go on the first day accumulating only $3,000 compared to $19,000 for Nilai Sarda and $17,600 for Barrett Block, due to being the only player to miss Final Jeopardy! The next game started out more steadily for him, even with the scare of almost missing a $1,000 clue about the clavicle collarbone before humorously correcting himself in time. He led after the first round and was neck and neck with day 1 leader Nilai, though Barrett wasn’t too far behind either. However, the tone of the game completely changed when Leonard found the final Daily Double in the game, putting $18,000 of his $18,200 at risk, the highest non-True Daily Double in the show’s history at the time. After responding to the Daily Double about 12 Angry Men (1957) correctly, he now had the upper hand going into Final Jeopardy! with $37,000, compared to $14,400 for Nilai and $9,000 for Barrett.
To tip off an already legendary game, Final Jeopardy! was a single-get for only Barrett, as he doubled his score to $18,000 for a two-day total of $35,600. Nilai wagered $7,000, bringing him down to $7,400 for a two-day total of $26,400. Leonard, on the other hand, didn’t wager a penny and provided a very memorable and goofy response to the clue about Military Men: “Who is… some guy in Normandy, but I just won $75,000!” That, he did. He was such a popular player that he appeared again in the 2019 All Star Games, as a member of Team Austin with Austin Rogers and Roger Craig, where the three split a prize of $75,000 ($25,000 each) for finishing second in the semifinals. Given how young Leonard still is and how much of a legacy he’s left on the show, I’d love to see how he fares against the best of the best again.
6, 7, & 8.) Emily Fiasco ($88,201); Yungsheng Wang ($86,202); Lucy Ricketts ($81,499)
Upon the announcement of the 2022 TOC and the 21 players who would appear, there was already a lot of talk since it strayed from the tradition of being 15 players. Another thing that had a lot of fans speculating was what the show would do about Election Day, since one of the shows in the tournament was set to air that day and was inevitably going to be pre-empted in all markets due to election coverage. This game was confirmed to be an exhibition match of some sorts, but at the time it wasn’t entirely clear.
Another thing unclear at the time was how many alternates for this tournament there would be. An alternate, in Jeopardy! TOC terms, is a player who was right on the cusp of qualifying to compete in the Tournament of Champions but either didn’t win enough games or earn quite enough money to do so. Usually there was room for one alternate, dating as far back as at least 1989, possibly earlier as well though that’s currently not confirmed. Due to COVID-19, though, the producers had to bring in an extra alternate for the 2021 Tournament of Champions, which could also possibly be attributed to the untimely death of 5-time champion Brayden Smith who would have competed that year.
The following tournament, there was an instance in the inaugural Second Chance Competition, which immediately preceded the 2022 TOC, where one player fell ill right before the taping, thus delaying their return indefinitely. In light of this abrupt development, TPTB took it upon themselves to invite three alternates to the 2022 TOC, a move that wasn’t done before.
With this information given, I began to speculate more about the Election Day exhibition game, and I suggested to the void that it be given to the three alternates so that they can be given the chance to play just one more time: in this case being Emily Fiasco, Yungsheng Wang, and Lucy Ricketts. I also thought, you know, whoever wins between the three could maybe get an invite to the 2023 TOC. This wasn’t meant to be, though, as we got an exhibition match between the three seeded semifinalists Amy Schneider, Matt Amodio, and Mattea Roach instead… which I can’t really complain too much about.
I’ve always wanted to see some TOC alternates play again at some point, and I would even be open to other alternates such as Kevin Joyce (3x, $111,299) and Tim Kutz (4x, $107,000), but for right now these three stood out as very vibrant personalities while also being very good at the game. Some kind of three-way match between the three would be kind of neat and unprecedented for the show, though I recognize this is definitely a pipe dream.
9.) Skyler Hornback ($66,600)
Perhaps even more of a pipe dream is my 9th pick (in no particular order of interest) to be invited, 2013 Kids Week winner Skyler Hornback. In his single appearance during this week of gameplay, Skyler dominated his opponents the whole way, wagering big on Daily Doubles and locking in 30 correct responses, including Final Jeopardy! where he gambled $30,000 of his $36,600, despite holding a $27,000 lead over second place. It wasn’t a secret that the 12-year-old was a big history buff specifically towards the Civil War era, which is what the final clue was about, so perhaps his wager was justified for that reason.
Now, his win of $66,600 is the biggest win in all of Kids Week history, smashing the previous Kids Week record of $49,000, set by Kunle DeMuren in 2002. Normally this would be the main discussion point of the episode, but the virality of his win was dwarfed by his opponent Thomas Hurley writing down the same answer but with an extra “t” in the word emancipation, thus causing him to be ruled incorrect. This had no effect on the outcome of the game, nor would it have made any difference if he was ruled correctly, but the pre-adolescent pain of missing a clue on a technicality like that was hard to ignore, and not to feel sympathy towards him for.
As a result of this controversy, Kids Week was discontinued, leaving Skyler Hornback as the #1 Kids Week winner and his $66,600 being the 32nd-highest one-day total of all time. With the episode being aired a decade ago, Skyler is likely around 22 years old now, with likely more knowledge and ability than ever before, and seeing someone representing Kids Week winners in such a big Jeopardy! event would be very unique in my opinion.
10.) Elise Beraru ($53,350)
My final pick, representing the very first TOC held in 1985, is Elise Beraru, the first ever 5-time champion of the daily syndicated era of Jeopardy! Making her first appearance on the first day of October 1984, she immediately hit the gas on her run and never stopped speeding until she won her 5th game, where she was retired undefeated due to the 5-game limit putting a cap on her streak. She won every regular game of hers in a runaway, with only five other known players from this era being able to replicate that perfect 5-for-5 record, as of current information available. She also set a one-day record of $23,800 ($47,600 in today’s values) in her third game that would not be broken until November the next year when Harvey Becker scored $25,400 in one of his games.
She wasn’t as successful in her TOC appearance, as an incorrect response in Final Jeopardy! ended her chances of advancing, due to betting the farm on the clue despite having more than enough to qualify for a wildcard spot with a smaller wager. At this time though, she was a guinea pig to the wildcard format and may have been under the impression that she needed to win to advance or get an absurdly high non-winning score. Nonetheless, she was ousted in the quarterfinals for an extra $1,000. She appeared once more on Super Jeopardy! where she faced off against Eric Newhouse, Richard Perez-Peña, and Gary Giardina. She finished in third place for this match, earning $5,000 more as Eric Newhouse advanced to the semis. She has not appeared since then.
While it’s been about the same amount of time as Bruce Seymour since she last appeared, she did partake in an AMA on Reddit, where she and at least 18 other successful women on Jeopardy! answered fan questions, following Amy Schneider’s monumental run where she surpassed $1 million in regular play, becoming only the fourth player to do so. With her participation in this discussion, it can be assumed that Elise is open to appearing on the show again, in which I think she would be a great representative for the first TOC class of the daily syndicated era.
Plans for Future Writing
As Jeopardy! Masters wraps up, I plan to do a formal review of the tournament for all my paid subscribers. I will also be on the lookout for any more information about Jeopardy! Invitational. Leaderboard reports will be written for my paid subscribers every Friday night as well, weekly game recaps of the previous week of games will attempt to be published every Monday morning, and I also have something special for every Thursday for all free subscribers and readers.
If you want more stats and complete results, my all-time leaderboard is always available for viewing, although be warned, I DO POST SPOILERS.
Postscript: Emily F, Yungsheng & Lucy would eventually competed at Champions Wildcard S37/38 but in separate groups. Yungsheng won CWC-Hearts while Lucy finished 2nd to Josh Saak at CWC-Spades but Emily F was quickly eliminated at CWC-Clubs QF.
Larissa and Leonard eventually made it to the JIT. Larissa finished as a semifinalist.
I'd love to see Elise Beraru back; she was a great player and i loved her outfits. Especially considering the inaugural JIT will be in the 40th/60th anniversary season, i hope they can get some really early players like her, or maybe even Barbara Lowe (probably unlikely considering her history with Michael Davies when she was on Millionaire).
I think i remember Elise mentioning somewhere that what threw her off in her later appearances was having to adjust to the buzzer timing, since she played when you could buzz in immediately (they just asked you, apparently on the honor system, to not buzz in "until the answer is fully revealed"). I might be thinking of a different season 1 champ though.