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Host
Alex Trebek
Contestants
see below
Announcer
Johnny Gilbert
Broadcast
Jeopardy! Tournmennt of Champions Presented By Consumen Cellular
November 4~15, 2019
Packager
Sony Pictures Television

Contestants[]

Rank Season Name Wins TW Results WC
C 34 Dhruv Gaur A $100,000
T 35 Francois Barcomb
1 James Holzhauer ($ S35) 32 $2,464,216
2 34 Josh Hill 7 $164,721
3 Ryan Fenster $159,497
4 35 Kyle Jones $147,403 Wild Card
5 34 Rob Worman 6 $134,900
6 35 Alan Dunn 5 $122,802
7 Steven Grade $116,501 Wild Card
8 34 Gilbert Collins $86,201
9 Rachel Lindgren $76,999 Wild Card
10 35 Eric R. Backes 4 $107,602
11 Anneke Garcia $105,497
12 Lindsey Shultz $103,002 Wild Card
13 Emma Boettcher 3 $98,002

Game Summary[]

Game Air Date Name Score Name Score Name Score Detail
QF #1 November 4, 2019 Kyle Jones $16,800 Anneke Garcia $4,799 Gilbert Collins $16,801 #
QF #2 November 5, 2019 Rob Worman $799 Dhruv Gaur $20,001 Rachel Lindgren $13,601 #
QF #3 November 6, 2019 James Holzhauer $30,635 Alan Dunn $1 Lindsey Shultz $14,000 #
QF #4 November 7, 2019 Josh Hill $10,597 Eric R. Backes $8,000
($13,000)
Emma Boettcher $23,800 #
QF #5 November 8, 2019 Ryan Fenster $8,000
($4,000)
Steven Grade $18,400 Francois Barcomb $34,300 #
SF #1 November 11, 2019 Emma Boettcher $29,601 Dhruv Gaur $5 Kyle Jones $19,201 #
SF #2 November 12, 2019 James Holzhauer $30,156 Steven Grade $11,400 Rachel Lindgren $7,200 #
SF #3 November 13, 2019 Francois Barcomb $34,801 Gilbert Collins $12,600 Lindsey Shultz $12,799 #
Final November 14, 2019 Francois Barcomb $1,800 James Holzhauer $49,326 Emma Boettcher $26,400 #
November 15, 2019 $3,200 $27,597 $38,600 #
Total $5,000 $76,923 $65,000

Trivia[]

Contest Related[]

  • Eligibility lasted from November 20, 2017 to June 6, 2019 (Emma Boettcher's last game).
  • This ToC was the last to be hosted by Alex Trebek and was the last ToC before COVID-19.
  • Larry Martin, the 2018 Teachers Tournament winner, automatically qualified for this ToC, but unexpectedly passed away on January 25, 2019.
  • On July 10, 2019, Jeopardy! took the unusual step of announcing the tournament field four months ahead of its airing (and before the tournament was even taped). The announcement included news that due to the sudden passing of Larry Martin, in an unprecedented move, Emma Boettcher would take his place instead of the next eligible player, 4-time champion Dave Leffler ($100,102). Emma Boettcher defeated James Holzhauer in regular play but her three wins would normally have been insufficient to qualify her into the ToC (June 6 was the day Boettcher lost in regular play).
  • In addition to skipping over Leffler, Boettcher skipped over six other 4-time champions (Dinerstein, Schmidt. Presloid, Fuchs, Borer, Becker).
  • Like S6, all tournament winners who participated in ToC make it to the semifinal[1], Since S16, two or more other tournament winners have advanced to the ToC Semifinals.
  • Since S24, it is the case in which two or more champions with less than 4 consecutive wins or winners of other tournaments have reached the finals[2].
  • Like the previous ToC, this ToC, the former cast wore a purple ribbon on their chest in memory of Larry Martin, who died of pancreatic cancer[3].
  • Two months after this ToC, Jeopardy!: The Greatest of All Time aired on primetime.
  • The two final episodes are available on their available YouTube channel for a limited time.

Contestant Related[]

  • James became the first superchampion to win the ToC and Among ToC winners, it is the recipient of the most prize money[4]; he was also the last ToC winner during Alex Trebek's lifetime, and for the first time, one of the participants who received more than the ToC winning prize money in the regular game officially became the ToC winner.
  • Francois become seventh tournament winner and second Teacher's Tournament Winner to become a ToC finalist.
  • Emma is the first 3-time champion to become a ToC finalist since 2007 ToC finalist Doug Hicton. She also becomes the fourth finalist as a 3-time champion for regular games, and she is the third consecutive female champion since Pam Mifflin in S13[5].
  • Dhruv made it to the semifinals of the College Tournament winners in 5 years after Terry O'Shea, and among men, he is a college winner who reached the semifinals on his own in 28 years since Scott Gillispie in S8.
  • James and Emma are the third regular-season rematch in a ToC since Keith Whitener (7x) and Paul Nelson (5x) in 2013[6]. As a result, Francois would face off against those who competed in rematches, such as the Teachers Tournament, which he won.
  • Runner-up Emma’s 2-day total is currently the highest non-winning 2-day total in any tournament.
  • With James winning, a winner from Group 3 was produced for the first time in 21 years since Dan Melia, the S14 ToC winner, and the top seed won the championship in 10 years after Dan Pawson[7]. Also, in the unlimited winning streak system, he is the only ToC winner who has beaten all opponents in the winning streak system once.

Evaluation[]

As many expected, James won without a hitch. This makes him the most money holder and longest winning streak among ToC winners. However, he also had a close match with Emma in the final, and Emma could have won if he hadn't correct FJ in the second game, or he hadn't spread the score in the first game.

In this ToC, there were many people who thought it would end in a one-sided confrontation because James showed overwhelming skill and the total prize money of the other 14 players was not up to James. Also, there were opinions that there would be a variable again this time because there were many abnormalities before that. In fact, except for James, the rest of the confrontation was intense. First of all, among the champions with more than 6 wins in a row, there was not a single one who came up on their own except for James. At least Kyle made it to the semifinals with WC, but lost to Emma. Also, the progress of other tournament winners was striking. In particular, Francois, who placed 3rd, showed overwhelming skills in the Quarterfinal and played a big role in the semifinals, winning after a fierce battle. There are many opinions that if he came out at a different time, he could have been aiming for a championship like S29's Colby.

Among them, none other than Emma who benefited the most. Originally, it was impossible to advance to ToC with the ball that beat James, the strongest opponent at the time, but as a special case, they advanced to ToC, and even set a record of winning runner-up through a fierce lineup at the time. Among her opponents, Kyle Jones and Josh Hill are seven-time champions, and four-time champion Eric E. Backes also made over $40,000 ($48,001) in her debut appearance. Not to mention James, the finalist, and Francois is also a Teacher Tournament winner, so her runner-up is terrific. Perhaps if another event were to take place, she would likely be invited, like Michael Falk and Yogesh Raut, ToC winner of S22 and S40, respectively.

There are many reviews that James and Emma saved this ToC, and the final match was briefly shown on Jeopardy! YouTube.

References[]

  1. Except for S18 and S24, where there was only one tournament winner.
  2. As with S24, the champion with three consecutive wins and the winner of other tournaments came up, and the rankings came out the same.
  3. Unfortunately, a year later, the host Alex Trebek also died of pancreatic cancer.
  4. The title of longest winning streak in ToC goes to Amy Schneider two years later.
  5. If we expand the scope to less than 4 consecutive wins, it will be the first time in 8 years since Buddy wright appeared on S28 ToC.
  6. Presumably, if Lindsey had made it to the finals, James, like Keith of S29, would have faced two entrants more than twice in one ToC. In particular, unlike Keith, who competed in the semi-finals and finals separately, in the case of James, they could compete simultaneously.
  7. However, since Dan was not ranked first in the prize money ranking among ToC participants at the time (Larissa Kelly received the most prize money among ToC participants at the time), it has been 20 years since Dave Abbott for the highest prize money.

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