‘Jeopardy!’ Reveals Tournament of Champions Lineup With ‘Disappointing’ Dropout & Big Twist

Darian Lusk November 19, 2024, 2:24 pm

Comments

Jeopardy! has unveiled the lineup and format for its iconic Tournament of Champions. It features a twist borrowed from 2022: the top three players automatically advance into the semifinals, all three-day champs in the mix like 2024, and something blue (the set). The stage is set for what fans expect to be a buzzworthy showdown.

Producer Sarah Foss and (retired) champion Sam Buttrey announced the 2025 ToC details on Monday’s Inside Jeopardy! podcast. They prefaced that Lisa Ann Walter, who won Celebrity Jeopardy! and was expected to compete like Ike Barinholtz, is out because of scheduling conflicts with Abbott Elementary. “A bit of disappointing news,” Foss shared. “But we have extended the invite for next year.”

The 2025 ToC will consist of 21 players, the top 20 champs from last April until December, and the winner of a 15-contestant Champions Wildcard. Also, like in the past two years, the ToC will immediately follow a Second Chance Competition for non-winners and a Wildcard for brief winners who didn’t make the cusp.

The postseason airs in one chunk starting on December 30, 2024 until early February, 2025. The ToC will premiere on January 27, 2025, and last around two and a half weeks.

Like the 2022 ToC, the top three players, Adriana Harmeyer, Isaac Hirsch, and Drew Basile, will be seeded directly into the semifinals, with the dynamic trio also playing an exhibition game that airs on TuneIn Radio.

“We will have six quarterfinal matchups, those winners and the three seeded players will go onto our semifinals, that will give us nine players, Foss shared. “They will each play one of three semifinal games. One will advance and that will give us our finals.”

Once more, the finals will be a first-to-three wins format, which is not the same as a best of seven, Ken Jennings! The prize is $250,000 and a berth into Jeopardy! Masters. The competitors, as announced on the podcast, are as follows:

2025 Tournament of Champions

Adriana Harmeyer (15 wins)
Isaac Hirsch (nine wins)
Drew Basile (seven wins)
Greg Jolin (five wins)
Alison Betts (five wins)
Mark Fitzpatrick (five wins)
Amy Hummel (five wins)
Ryan Manton (four wins)
Grant DeYoung (four wins)
Will Wallace (four wins)
Amar Kakirde (four wins)
Lucas Partridge (three wins)
David Erb (three wins)
Will Stewart (three wins)
Neilesh Vinjamuri (three wins)
Rishabh Wuppalapati (three wins)
Allison Gross (three wins)
Weckiai Rannila (three wins)
The Champions Wildcard winner
Two more contestants whose games haven’t aired, or are currently, airing

2025 Champions Wildcard

Jay Fisher (three wins)
Marko Saric (two wins)
Davey Morrison (two wins)
Will Weiss (two wins)
Aiden Orzech (two wins)
Jen Feldman (two wins)
Eamonn Campbell (two wins)
Joey DeSena (two wins)
Evan Dorey (one win)
Second Chance winner 1
Second Chance winner 2
Four more contestants from Second Chance who have the highest Coryat

Fans took to Reddit reacting to the big news and placing their bets now that the next ToC is taking shape.

“Kind of surprised that the exhibition will be on TuneIn. Yes, I know, it was only televised last time because it fell on Election Day, but 6 quarterfinals + exhibition + 3 semifinals = 10 and the Finals Series can begin on a Monday with an entire weekend of hype,” one fan wrote.

“There are some really strong players in every win tier here. I still think Adriana is the one to beat, but I don’t feel like there are one or two prohibitive favorites this time around, which makes it more fun IMO,” wrote another.

“Agreed that no one is a huge favorite, though as I’ve posted elsewhere I think Isaac is the one to beat,” Greg Jolin predicted.

Like the 2022 ToC with Matt Amodio, Mattea Roach, and Amy Schneider, the top three players won’t have to play the quarterfinals. This is the second time ever this has been done. Foss shared the decision was made because the top three all happen to have more than five wins.

The seeding system is a double-edged sword, as Foss was quick to point out, since Amodio lost to none other than Buttery in the 2022 ToC semifinals.

'Jeopardy!' Fans Mourn Death of Show Legend Bruce Seymour

“They did have seeding in my tournament, they did not last year,” Buttrey shared. “But there is no guarantee seeding into the semifinal will get you into the finals as Mattea and Matt learned with undying sadness,” he joked.

“I cant wait,” Foss closed. “The excitement is in the air, the postseason is not disappointing so far.”

Jeopardy!, Weeknights, Check Your Local Listings