Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions

tournament of past major winners in the game show Jeopardy! From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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The Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions is a yearly tournament on the American television game show Jeopardy!. It features 15 players who have won the most games from the past season.[1] It started in 1964 when Art Fleming was host of the show; it is also played on the show with Alex Trebek as host until 2019, with Buzzy Cohen guest hosting the 2021 Tournament of Champions. Ken Jennings is now the host of the tournament starting with the 2022 Tournament of Champions. Winners of the College Championship (since 1989) and the Teachers Tournament (since 2011) also play in the Tournament of Champions.

Jeopardy!'s Tournament of Champions takes two weeks. The first five games are the quarterfinals, with three new contestants each day. The winners of the five games move on to the semi-finals. The four players with the highest scores who did not win their quarterfinal game also move on as "wild card" players. If there is a tie at the end of a game, one final answer is given, and the first player to ring in with the correct response wins the game. If all three players have a score of zero, none of the players move on to the semi-finals, and another wild card spot is added. The next three games are the semi-final games. The three winners of the semi-finals move on to the finals, which happens over two games and two days. Unlike the quarterfinals, if all three players have a score of zero, one final answer is given, with the first player to ring in with the correct question wins the game. This rule change was first implemented in 2013 to avoid a repeat of the November 2012 taping of the Teen Tournament which made it unfair for contestants who played in the semifinal before the zero loss. In each finals game, the players start with zero scores; after the second finals game, each player's score is added to their score from the first game, with the highest score being the winner, or "Grand Champion." The other two players win smaller cash prizes or their two-day total, whichever is higher.

In 2022 (Season 38) the tournament took a new format which expanded the field to 21 contestants. The top three seeded contestants will qualify for the semifinal rounds; the remaining 18 contestants will play six quarterfinal games, with no wild-card spots given. The six winners will advance to the semifinals and join the top three seeds. The winners of the semifinal matches will advance to the finals, which will consist of a minimum of three and a maximum of seven games, similar to the Greatest of All Time tournament (see below). The first finalist to win three games will win the tournament and the $250,000 top prize. The second-place and third-place prizes will be determined first by number of wins, then by number of second-place finishes, and finally by total score across all games played, and will win $100,000 and $50,000, respectively. [2]

From time to time, special Tournaments of Champions have been played. In 2002, the show held a Million Dollar Masters tournament. This was a two-week tournament where the winner won $1,000,000. It was taped at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. In 2005, the show held an Ultimate Tournament of Champions. It was a 15-week tournament with 145 players. The two players who made it to the finals would play against Ken Jennings for $2,000,000. In 2014, the show held a Battle of the Decades to commemorate the show's 30th anniversary. It was a 5-week tournament featuring 45 players; the field of contestants was broken up into three decades. The first three weeks featured players from their respective decades. Five winners from each decade advanced to the quarterfinals to compete for a $1,000,000 grand prize.

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Prizes

More information Year(s), Finalists (guaranteed amounts) ...
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List of participants

The following is a list of contestants and where they placed in the tournament. Prize amounts for the non-winning finalists who won more than the minimum guarantees are as indicated in parentheses.

The Season 37 (all were champions in games hosted by Alex Trebek, games hosted by Austin Cohen), and some Season 39 and 40 (both tournaments hosted by Ken Jennings) Tournaments featured players who won their games with a different host than the host in the Tournament of Champions. They are designated. The Season 41 tournament will be the first where all champions played under the same host since the Season 36 tournament.

More information Finalists, Semifinalists ...
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References

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