Game Shows Wiki
Advertisement
Host
Alex Trebek
Contestants
see below
Announcer
Johnny Gilbert
Broadcast
Jeopardy Season 28 Tournament of Champions
November 2~15, 2011
Packager
Sony Pictures Television

Contestants[]

Rank Season Name Wins TW Results WC
C 27 Erin McLean A $100,000 Wild Card
T Charles Temple
1 Tom Nissley ($ S27) 8 $236,405
2 28 Joon Pahk 7 $201,000
3 27 Roger Craig 6 $231,200
4 Justin Sausville $136,000 Wild Card
5 Christopher Short $96,752
6 Tom Kunzen 5 $135,402
7 26 Paul Kursky $110,411
8 27 Jay Rhee $109,203 Wild Card
9 Kara Spak $85,401
10 Mark Runsvold 4 $154,800
11 26 John Krizel $107,204
12 27 Brian Meacham $92,500
13 26 Buddy Wright $89,804

Game Summary[]

Game Air Date Name Score Name Score Name Score Detail
QF #1 November 2, 2011 Tom Nissley $16,403 Jay Rhee $16,401 Charles Temple $285 #
QF #2 November 3, 2011 Roger Craig $19,600 Brian Meacham $0
($8,800)
Kara Spak $6,012 #
QF #3 November 4, 2011 John Krizel $14 Tom Kunzen $0
($4,200)
Joon Pahk $30,800 #
QF #4 November 7, 2011 Paul Kursky $2,400 Erin McLean $16,003 Buddy Wright $17,201 #
QF #5 November 8, 2011 Mark Runsvold $24,000 Justin Sausville $18,599 Christopher Short $0
($5,900)
#
SF #1 November 9, 2011 Justin Sausville $20,799 Tom Nissley $27,201 Erin McLean $2 #
SF #2 November 10, 2011 Buddy Wright $8,799 Jay Rhee $0 Kara Spak $12 #
SF #3 November 11, 2011 Joon Pahk $11,662 Mark Runsvold $1,055 Roger Craig $27,600 #
Final November 14, 2011 Roger Craig $50,000 Tom Nissley $18,800 Buddy Wright $6,000 #
November 15, 2011 $1,200 $0 $4,600 #
Total $51,200 $18,800 $10,600

Notes[]

Contest Related[]

  • Eligibility lasted from May 24, 2010 to November 1, 2011.
  • This is the ToC where the Teacher Tournament winner participated for the first time.
  • This tournament is the last time where the champions in the quarterfinals was in the order of their last names.
  • There's a funny moment on the second quarterfinals, Alex reads the clue "If Andy yearns for Brenda & Brenda cares about Charlene who pines for Andy, the 3 of them form one of these." Kara responded with "What is a... threesome?", her shocked looks and the audience laughs. Roger respond the correct response, "What is a love triangle?". Alex said, "Kara has obviously had much more experience than I".

Contestant Related[]

  • Joon Pahk is the third foreigner to enter ToC and is the highest prize winner among foreigners.
  • Tom Kunzen was awarded an extra additional $1,000 (for what should’ve been a second-place finish) after his Final Jeopardy! response on his last regular appearance was belatedly credited as correct 4 months after the game’s airing.
  • ToC winner Roger sets record for highest True DD wager ($18K), this record is intact until 2020 GOAT player for James.

Evlauation[]

This time ToC was called the group of death, and the bout of talented players continued. Among the ToC participants, Tom Nissley, who had the most consecutive wins, Roger Craig, who set the record for the most prize money in one game at the time, Mark Runsvold, who, like Roger, broke $100,000 in just two runs, and Joon Phak, who broke $100,000 in three games, were selected as strong candidates for the championship. Especially, the group 3 match in the semifinals was so intense that it was called the group of death. All three of them broke the $100,000 mark within three games, and showed a strong side to DD, so a close match was expected. The results showed that Roger, who took all of DD, had to follow DD's luck as he advanced to the finals.

In this ToC, the winner was determined by who found DD and how to use it, and Roger is an example of that. He found DD in the ToC, then made a bold bet and succeeded, widening the gap to the other contestants and winning. In particular, in the semifinals, it was such an important match that there was a prospect that the match would have been fierce had it not been for the last DD.

In particular, DD in the first game of the finals is considered a famous scene, and $9,000 was quadrupled in just two times, making a difference with the other two, and eventually won the championship without incident. Among them, Buddy Wright, the lowest seed, did well, finishing third despite a strong lineup. This ToC can be said to have saved the purpose of Jeopardy. There is no guarantee that you will win just because you hit a lot, and you can see that you can win only when various factors such as the use of DD are harmonized. Also, Roger's True DD (All-in) transition was later used by several champions, including Alex Jacob and James Holzhauer.


Art Fleming Era
1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969
1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1979
Syndicated Era
1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990
1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996
1998 1999 2000 2001 2003 2004
2006 2007 2009 2010 2011 2013
2014 2015 2017 2019 2021 2022
2024 2025 2026
Advertisement