From Summer Sadness to May Madness, Jeopardy! Stakes Are Higher Than Ever
As the competition for Jeopardy! Masters rages on and Hannah Wilson employs her upcoming 9th game against 3-time champion Ben Chan this Monday, let's take a look at the riveting timeline for Season 39
The Off-Season Depression and Post-Season Ascension (2022-2023)
It’s been a very experimental year for Jeopardy! under the management of executive producer Michael Davies and split-duty hosting of Ken Jennings & Mayim Bialik. So far, it’s been a year that has been broiled with all kinds of memorable streaks, competitions, tournaments, and even controversies.      Â
Following a post-season summer slump of arguably the most explosive season in Jeopardy! history with Season 38, we began Season 39 with Virginia attorney Luigi de Guzman’s thunderous 5-day streak and $142,700 in winnings and consolations (104th place of all time), which set the tone for how fierce the competition would be.   Â
After successfully affirming his first win achieved from the last game of Season 38, with him winning the first four games of Season 39, Luigi was defeated in his sixth game by Emmett Stanton (3x, $74,600, 360th of all time), a freelance writer from Baltimore. Emmett would go on to lose his 4th game in a substantive three-way contest between him, Christopher Pennant, and winner Martha Bath ($30,800), a retired CPA from Seattle and veteran from the Fleming era of Jeopardy! (1964-1974), where she won $40.
Her run was quickly cut short by Michael Menkhus, a strong two-time champion of just over $50k in earnings, who would then go on to lose to the next TOC contender, David Sibley (4x, $79,098, 322nd of all time). In the midst of all these runs, Primetime Celebrity Jeopardy! began airing with Mayim Bialik hosting while Ken Jennings continued to host for the syndicated show. Primetime Celebrity Jeopardy! included the introduction of new gimmicks such as Triple Jeopardy! and airing mostly on Sundays.
After scoring a runaway victory of $21,800 in his first game, David coasted to three more victories, averaging just under $20,000 per win. However, he then met a grueling and cruel defeat at the hands of a strong challenger in Pam Warren and a fearsome competitor in rising star Cris Pannullo, who limped to a runaway game against the two, which proved fortuitously fatal against his opponents given that he was the only one to miss the Final Jeopardy! clue.
Following his blockbuster first win, Cris went on to dominate the next two weeks, with one of his biggest wins being in his 8th game, despite it also being his most hotly contested match up to this point. By October 14th, he already had 11 wins under his belt, becoming only the 15th player to surpass ten consecutive wins in regular play. On October 16th, famous actor Ike Barinholtz won his semifinal match against other quarterfinal winners Simu Liu and Iliza Shlesinger to become the first finalist for the Primetime Celebrity Jeopardy! tournament.
A pause was placed on Pannullo’s run, as the inaugural competition for Second Chance began airing October 17th, in which we saw Jessica Stephens and Rowan Ward triumphantly defeating, respectively, James Fraser & Molly Karol in week 1, followed by Sadie Goldberger & Jack Weller in week 2. Jessica and Rowan were rewarded a grand prize of $35,000 each, as well as the final spots in the groundbreaking 2022 Tournament of Champions as a result, where 21 players returned to the stage to face off for the $250,000 grand prize.
This is the first ToC of the post-Fleming Jeopardy! syndicated show (1984-present) to not follow the tradition of 15 players. The format was also different in that wildcards were no longer relevant, and each player was required to win their quarterfinals, save for the top 3 longest streak-holders of the season in Amy Schneider, Matt Amodio, and Mattea Roach, who each received byes into the semifinals. Despite this upgrade, only Amy emerged as victorious in her semifinal game, pulling off a runaway game against Tyler Rhode and Margaret Shelton, whereas Andrew He and Sam Buttrey emerged as victorious as well.
Following the ToC semifinals, beloved Star Trek actor Wil Wheaton won his semifinal game against comedian Joel Kim Booster and actor John Michael Higgins to appoint himself as the second finalist for Celebrity Jeopardy!
In the ToC finals, the winner was determined by who would win 3 games first out of a possible 7 games. Amy Schneider achieved 3 wins in 6 games against Andrew He (2 wins) and Sam Buttrey (1 win) in the finals to earn the $250,000 grand prize. Amy Schneider is the first woman to win a Tournament of Champions since Celeste DiNucci in 2007, and the first transgender woman to win as well[1]Â . The event, hosted by Ken Jennings, was a massive success and lived up to the months-long hype, but since it had wrapped up it was then time to return to the regular games and build the field for the 2023 Tournament of Champions.Â
The State of the Season
Following the most stacked Tournament of Champions in recent memory, we returned to Cris Pannullo’s run, which continued on for 2 more weeks as he won his next ten games with his most contested game being his 17th game, in which he won $44,000, despite his Coryat score (raw score with Daily Doubles and Final Jeopardy! not being factored in) being by far his lowest yet at $12,400. Throughout his 21 wins, he displayed a Holzhauer-style way of playing with aggressive Daily Double wagers and aiming towards high-valued clues on the board, a developed version of the Forrest Bounce. An incorrect DD on his 22nd game would prove fatal to his run, as he would also wind up missing FJ, causing him to finish third and just under the $750k mark.
The next week after Cris’s loss, following a few new faces at the champion’s lectern, a new ToC-level player began a noteworthy mini-streak in Sean McShane (3x, $82,401, 295th place) that was suddenly cut short by Ray Lalonde, a scenic artist from Toronto, Ontario. Like clockwork, Ray would claw his way through many hard-fought wins to become the 16th player to win over 10 games, upholding an unprecedented trend of superchampions in post-COVID Jeopardy! that was started by Matt Amodio. However, his run would eventually come to an end on his 14th game upon not having the lead for Final Jeopardy! necessary, despite his stellar correct response rate. Regardless, he has the second-longest streak in this ToC-qualifying season thus far.
Following Ray Lalonde’s run was a series of 2-time champions until the drought was broken by world-famous quizzer Yogesh Raut, who affirmed his reputation with a massive debut game, earning $41,601, and then cruising through his next two games on raw knowledge, not needing a runaway game to do so.
He would then lose his 4th game however, falling just short of ToC eligibility (3x, $98,403, 238th of all time), and resulting in a short series of polarizing Facebook posts from him criticizing the show and some of its more beloved contemporaries such as Claire McNear and Amy Schneider.
Despite the condemnation from several people, fans and former contestants alike, Michael Davies expressed admiration for him being unapologetically outspoken and went on to suggest that he may still be invited to the ToC. He is currently ranked 11th for the season.
Another top world quizzer would appear a couple weeks later in Tampa’s Troy Meyer, a music executive who supplied an even longer streak averaging ~$36,000 per game (6x, $215,802, 51st of all time), followed shortly by comedian Patton Oswalt winning the third semifinal game in Primetime Celebrity Jeopardy! over actors Michael Cera and Brendan Hunt with a come-from-behind victory as a result of being the only Final Jeopardy! response that was correct.
Troy Meyer closed out the week of January 23 losing his 7th game to Jake DeArruda (3x, $70,661, 393rd of all time), a strong player who wound up getting cut short by Patti Palmer. Palmer followed up her first win with a loss to Matthew Marcus, who won the game on February 2nd with the strongest debut performance of the season, surpassing Yogesh’s debut win with $42,200. That same day, the final game of Celebrity Jeopardy! aired, where Ike Barinholtz narrowly triumphed over Patton Oswalt to win the game by one dollar, with his one million dollar charity of choice being Pacific Clinics.
Davies made the executive decision to include Ike Barinholtz as a qualifying 2023 ToC competitor, following his victory in Celebrity Jeopardy! This allowed him to blossom as the first celebrity champion to be invited to participate in the ToC. Ike accepted the invitation.
Matthew’s run extended a few branches, earning three more substantial wins before losing out to Dan Wohl in his 5th game (4x, $116,200, 160th of all time), thus making him one of the most successful players of the season. Following two impressive two-timers in Mira Hayward and Kendra Westerhaus is the beginning of an elongated streak from Stephen Webb, who won three games and over $80k under the hosting of Ken Jennings before being paused to make room for the Mayim Bialik-hosted High School Reunion tournament, which brought back players from the two most recent Teen Tournaments held in 2018 and 2019, won by Claire Sattler and Avi Gupta respectively.
Despite their initial tournament wins, both players were eliminated in the semis, and it came down to 2018 bronze finisher Maya Wright and 2019 semifinalists Justin Bolsen and Jackson Jones. In a narrow Final Jeopardy! conclusion, first-year college student Justin Bolsen triumphed over Jackson Jones by a mere $363 on benefit of having just slightly more to gain from getting the clue correctly and wagering it all.
Following the special tournament, we were back to regular games with Ken Jennings hosting, in which Stephen Webb (8x, $185,881, 65th of all time) continued to emerge as the winner for five more straight games before losing his 9th game to Kelly Barry as a result of getting Final Jeopardy! incorrect.
Kelly’s glory was sustained for a short amount of time, as Pennsylvania professor Melissa Klapper began her quest, catapulting to the forefront of women on Jeopardy! for the season by becoming the first woman to win at least three games throughout Season 39. A big contribution came from challenger Karen Morris in Melissa's third game, when a wager on the third Daily Double put Melissa within striking distance of achieving a third win, which was a prophecy fulfilled. Sadly, Melissa’s glory didn’t live so long, as she would lose her fourth game through a series of unlucky Daily Doubles, leaving her just short of ToC eligibility.
A series of one-and-done players followed her run, mixed in with some two-time champions and three more three-time champions in Brian Henegar, Ben Chan, and Kevin Belle. Brian had lost his fourth game to Rachel Clark     while Ben had to pause his run due to contracting an illness after his third game was taped. Kevin Belle looked like a steady possible qualifier until he met a fierce challenger in Chicago data scientist Hannah Wilson, who played strongly to win with $25,800, as well as a stunning second win of $45,200, a score shared by the likes of Larissa Kelly and Jennifer Quail.
Hammer Hannah Emerges; Ben to Return from Hiatus
After a seven-week drought with no TOC qualifying players, data scientist Hannah Wilson emerged as an immediate TOC contender in her first three games, earning over $90,000 in total winnings from May 3rd through May 5th. On May 8th, she resumed her run with an essential 4th win, making her the third transgender woman in the show’s history to qualify for a Tournament of Champions, following historic 2022 TOC winner Amy Schneider, as well as 1998 TOC semifinalist Catherine Ramen, who competed on Jeopardy! pre-transition. This also made her the first woman to qualify for the 2023 TOC throughout the season.
She then closed out the week of episodes, beating her opponents with trivia hammers by winning every game with an average of ~$28,000 per episode and vaulting herself into the top 20 winners in regular play by cash winnings, at #19 with an 8-day total of $229,801, between 2011 TOC winner Roger Craig (6x, $230,200) and 2021 TOC runner-up Jennifer Quail (8x, $228,800). This also places her in the top 50 all-time earnings for the show, at a whopping 47th place, between 2003 TOC runner-up Brian Weikle ($230,801) and 2004 TOC semifinalist Chris Miller ($229,441). At this point, she appears very tough to beat, but there’s no guarantee that she’ll be the 17th player to surpass that ten-game milestone, especially given who she has to face this coming Monday.
Ben Chan, a 3-time champion from April who had to put a pause on his run due to contracting an illness, will officially be resuming his run this Monday where he will need to face 8-time champion Hannah Wilson in a slightly unprecedented clash of the titans.
Those who have kept up with the show since the origins of the 2022 Tournament of Champions qualifying field will recall a similar situation unfolding on the game of January 28th, 2021, where 7-time champion Brian Chang faced off and lost against 4-time champion (at the time) Zach Newkirk. While Ben’s 3-day total of $69,001 may not look like much on the surface, especially compared to Hannah’s 8-day total, it’s important to note that he has a perfect runaway rate thus far, having more than twice as much money as his nearest opponent in all three of his games.
When comparing the stats of Hannah Wilson to the stats of Ben Chan, the two average a similar amount of buzzer attempts and correct responses, with 27.13 average correct answers for Hannah to 25.33 for Ben. Should Ben win his 4th game, he will become the 11th player to be eligible for the 2023 Tournament of Champions. It will depend on the boards, skill, as well as a healthy amount of luck.
As of May 14th, 2023, we have ten officially qualified people in the 2023 Tournament of Champions, which is set to air this fall.
Jeopardy! Masters Premieres for the First Time
The new Jeopardy! primetime event, which are now frequent supplements to the syndicated show now, has a lot of people talking about the show again as well. The league of elite players features five contestants from the 2022 TOC: finalists Amy Schneider (4th), Andrew He (36th), and Sam Buttrey (93rd), as well as top 10 all-time winners Matt Amodio (5th) and Mattea Roach (10th).
This tournament has a number of storylines, the most appealing of which might come from its main character: James Holzhauer, the 2019 TOC winner, single-day record holder in total earnings, and the 2020 Greatest of All Time runner-up. The prizes for the six players will be $500,000 for the winner, $250,000 for second place, $150,000 for third place, $100,000 for fourth place, $75,000 for fifth place, and $50,000 for sixth place. Â Â Â Â Â
The tournament wrapped up its first week of episodes on May 12th, finishing off with 4 days and 8 games being aired. The format for the quarterfinals is a point-based system, with points awarded to players based on their placement in      their respective games: 3 points for 1st, 1 point for 2nd, and 0 points for 3rd.
We saw impressive performances and blisteringly fast-paced gameplay from all six players, but three players stood out from the rest. To few people’s surprise, James Holzhauer claimed his position as frontrunner, winning 3 out of 4 of his games to a total of 9 match points, only losing his second game to Matt Amodio in a stunningly even match, despite Matt placing third in all three of his other games.
Second in line, not at all far behind James, is second place 2022 TOC finisher Andrew He, who won two of his games and placed second in his two other games, giving him 8 match points. Both players have deployed the all-in Daily Double approach, putting all of their JepCoins™ on the line in hopes of snagging a three-pointer, and it’s been very rewarding on their performances.
Coming in a close third is dark horse Mattea Roach, whose extraordinary come-from-behind win in her third match, against He and Amodio, provided some of the best drama of the tournament and was arguably one of the greatest single-game performance from a contestant we’ve seen in years. For context, this is heavily reflected on how Andrew and Matt were hovering around 10,000 JepCoins™ while Mattea was in the red as far down as negative (-)1,200 JepCoins™. They followed that up with a second-place finish in their fourth game, which allowed Roach to make up for finishing third to James in their first contest.
At this point, it’s probably a safe bet to assume that the top 3 players on the board currently are likely to advance to the semifinals, though I would also say there’s a slight gap between James and Andrew, then a slightly bigger gap between Andrew and Mattea. The real contest that we should watch out for this week is the battle for 4th place between Matt, Amy, and Sam.
According to leaderboard placements and tiebreak scenarios, Matt has a slight advantage over the other two, but it’s going to all depend on how the last three days go for each other. Sam and Amy have yet to win a game, but a win would put them in a much more comfortable position than the one they’re currently in. Sam has the overall advantage in correct answers and scores excluding Daily Doubles and Final Jeopardy!, but Matt is the only one of the three who’s won at least one game, whereas Amy has finished in second place in more games than Sam, giving her a one-point advantage over Sam.
Who will be crowned the first Jeopardy! Master? Will Hannah or Ben continue their streak? Who else will qualify?
For a more direct source of all comprehensive Jeopardy! stats, be sure to check out my all-time Jeopardy! leaderboard, which shows results for all tournaments and players across various spreadsheets! Warning that spoilers are typically posted as soon as it airs in one area, so don’t check in until 10PM CST if you don’t want that day’s episode spoiled.