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Host
Ken Jennings
Contestants
see below
Announcer
Johnny Gilbert
Broadcast
JEP39 TOC Logo
October 31~November 21, 2022
Packager
Sony Pictures Television

Contestants[]

Rank Season Name Wins TW Results
P 38 Sam Buttrey A $100,000
NCC 38 (P) Jaskaran Singh $250,000
SC
(S39)
38 Jessica Stephens $37,000
37 Rowan Ward $36,000
1 38 Amy Schneider 40 $1,384,800
2 37/38 Matt Amodio ($ S38) 38 $1,519,601
3 38 Mattea Roach 23 $562,983
4 Ryan Long 16 $300,400
5 Jonathan Fisher 11 $248,100
6 37 Brian Chang ($ S37) 7 $165,904
7 Courtney Shah $120,558
8 38 Eric Ahasic 6 $162,601
9 36/37 Zach Newkirk $126,871
10 38 Megan Wachspress $62,603
11 Andrew He 5 $159,365
12 Tyler Rhode $107,901
13 Jackie Kelly 4 $117,100
14 37 John Focht $105,800
15 38 Margaret Shelton $81,700
16 Christine Whelchel $75,602
17 Maureen O'Neil $59,200

Game Summary[]

Game Air Date Name Score Name Score Name Score Detail
QF #1 October 31, 2022 Ryan Long $8,400 Megan Wachspress $2,399 Maureen O'Neil $16,799 #
QF #2 November 1, 2022 Jonathan Fisher $11,999 Andrew He $12,001 Christine Whelchel $2,200 #
QF #3 November 2, 2022 Brian Chang $4,200 Tyler Rhode $34,800 Margaret Shelton $24,400 #
QF #4 November 3, 2022 Courtney Shah $1,000 Rowan Ward $10,401 John Focht $32,000 #
QF #5 November 4, 2022 Eric Ahasic $39,201 Jaskaran Singh $13,201 Jackie Kelly $13,199 #
QF #6 November 7, 2022 Zach Newkirk $5,728 Jessica Stephens -$5,800 Sam Buttrey $19,600 #
EX November 8, 2022 Amy Schneider $904 Matt Amodio $3,600 Mattea Roach $17,600 #
SF #1 November 9, 2022 Amy Schneider $19,664 Maureen O'Neil $600 Tyler Rhode $7,000 #
SF #2 November 10, 2022 Matt Amodio $16,800 John Focht $24,000 Sam Buttrey $33,601 #
SF #3 November 11, 2022 Mattea Roach $7,200 Eric Ahasic $16,783 Andrew He $37,863 #
Final November 14, 2022 Amy Schneider $4,600 Andrew He $29,201 Sam Buttrey $12,000 #
November 15, 2022 $21,100 $1,999 $9,400 #
November 16, 2022 $3,400 $9,999 $3,199 #
November 17, 2022 $19,000 $801 $0 #
November 18, 2022 $17,600 $100 $22,400 #
November 21, 2022 $28,000 $17,001 $0 #
3 2 1

Notes[]

Format change[]

Some formats have changed in this ToC.

  • There are now 21 people competing instead of 15.
  • There are now six quarterfinal matches instead of five; and there are no wild card spots.
  • The top three seeded champions (in this case - Matt Amodio, Amy Schneider, and Mattea Roach) are automatic semifinalists.
  • Instead of a two-day total format, the final is now a first-to-three wins match, as was the case with Jeopardy!: The Greatest of All Time in 2020. The first to win three matches wins the tournament. If the two runners-up in the final have the same number of wins, the second place is decided in the order of the most, and if it is also the same, the ranking is determined by the total score[1].
  • This is the first confirmed ToC to have a best of seven series in the Finals.

Contest related[]

  • Eligibility lasted from January 6, 2021 (the day after Brayden Smith, the last qualifying champ for the 2021 ToC, lost) to July 29, 2022 (last game of Season 38 Luigi de Guzman's first game, he won four more games next season and qualified for the 2024 ToC).
  • Beginning with this Tournament of Champions qualifying period, the minimum number of regular play wins required for eligibility is increased from three to four[2].
  • Two additional entrants were selected as a second chance competition for two weeks prior to the ToC, and the detailed process can be found here. (#)
  • Second ToC in the post-Trebek era, 74 game champion, Jeopardy!: The Greatest of All Time champion & current syndicated version co-host Ken Jennings will host for the 2022 ToC.
  • As COVID-19 slows, it has become a ToC that has received audiences again in three years.
  • On November 8th, a friendly match was held between Amy, Matt and Mattea, who reached bye before the semi-finals. The purpose of the friendly match seemed to focus the attention of viewers on the fact that due to the 2022 midterm elections, broadcasting cannot be performed in some regions, and that it gave equal opportunities to three people.
  • For the third time following S21 and S28, as of this year's ToC, no S37 champions who participated in the ToC made it to the Finals[3].
  • The 3rd Question FJ! in the final had a error (#). Originally, Sam should have won because the answer he wrote was correct, but Andrew won because of an error in the question. If a similar incident occurs in regular play, producers give participants who have been damaged by the error a chance to reappear, or appear in a Second Chance tournament, but since this particular incident happened in a tournament, especially in ToC, it seems that the production team will have to take appropriate action. As a result, Amy won and only affected the order of 2nd and 3rd place.
  • Two months after ToC, Jeopardy! At the Masters Tournament, the appearances of the ToC finalists, the top three, and James Holzhauer were determined. Perhaps this ToC can be seen as a prelude to the upcoming Masters Tournament.
  • The male to female ratio of participants in this ToC is 11:9, and the gender distribution is equal like the 1993 ToC. This is unusual considering that it is a ToC that usually has a male super phenomenon.
  • This is the second ToC where the finals were not in order of semifinal scores.

Contestant related[]

  • For third time, there are at least two 10-times+ champions who participated in the ToC.
  • For first time, there are at least two millionaire champions who participated in the ToC.
  • Zach Newkirk's first four appearances were in the previous ToC qualification period, but he became the third reigning champion to not return due to travel restrictions in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. He returned as a co-champion on January 28, 2021 in Season 37, after Season 36 ended early due to the COVID-19 pandemic with only 190 episodes, Season 36 was the shortest season to date.
  • Like the 2009 ToC, the top seed of the ToC leaderboard is among participants that is not the highest regular game prize money (Amy Schneider (40x, $1,382,800) < Matt Amodio (38x, $1,518,601)
  • Rowan is the first non-binary participant to participate in ToC.
  • Jaskaran is the first ToC entrant who originally debuted in primetime.
  • Jessica's score is the lowest among ToC participants.
  • In this ToC, 14 people have competed together in a regular game before:
    • Brian → Zach
    • Matt → Jonathan, Jessica, and Rowan
    • Andrew → Amy
    • Christine → Margaret → Maureen
    • Ryan → Eric → Megan
  • As Amy and Andrew advanced to the finals, it was the fourth rematch in history between those who competed in regular play.
  • Coincidentally, all finalists are from California.

Evaluation[]

This ToC recieved the best reviews among the ToCs of all time. It consisted of a splendid lineup, with 5 superchampions participating and 2 millionaires participating.

With Amy's win, she became the 4th female champion in 15 years since Celeste DiNucci (S24)[4], and also set the record for the longest winning streak among ToC winners. It also broke the jinx that champions who have passed the year since S25 ToC winner Dan Pawson can't win, and whoever advances to ToC after beating their opponent in a regular game will always lose.

In this ToC, a lot of surprises appeared, Marueen beat 16-day champion Ryan and 6-day champion Megan, and Andrew beat 11-day champion Jonathan in the quarterfinals, and beat 23-day champion Mattea in the semifinals, to later finish runner-up. Sam, who placed 3rd, also created a surprise victory over 38-day champion Matt for the first time from another tournament winner.

Going from a 15-person system to a 21-person system has opened up opportunities for 4-time champions who normally wouldn't qualify, with John and Maureen benefiting significantly. Some people say that this ToC is a reduced version of UToC and BtoD because it took almost a month including SC.

According to the format change, the requirement to win the ToC championship has been changed to 5 wins (4 wins by bye). Previously, they played 4 matches and were allowed to go up to WC in the qualifying round, but now it is a one-off match, so there may be surprises like the S22. Instead, there are a lot of opportunities to make up for it because the opportunity is given up to four times in the finals only[5].

As the finals were changed to a best-of-seven system like Jeopardy!: The Greatest of All Time, instead of adding up two games, there were many opportunities to make up for it. In the past, there was no chance to make up for a large difference in scores in the first edition, but there were many opportunities due to the format change[6].

This ToC is a new format conducted under the supervision of Michael Davies and is receiving good reviews from people. Now, it seems that the next season, S40, will take on more diverse concepts.

Immediately after this ToC, the top 3, Matt, and Mattea participated in the 2023 Masters, which showed contradictory results from the 2022 ToC. Amy, the winner of ToC, and Sam, who came in 3rd, showed poor performance and finished in 5th and 6th place without a single win, while Matt and Mattea, who lost in the semifinals, took 3rd and runner-up, respectively, avenging their disappointment from the previous ToC. Andrew, the runner-up, also finished in 4th place due to the difference in points, but showed a great performance[7].


References[]

  1. This appears to be to prevent one person from taking the lead early on in the two-day system. In particular, with the change to a single-game format, there was an opportunity to make up for it.
  2. However, if some champions are unavoidably unable to attend, 3-game winning champions can attend as substitutes.
  3. What these three seasons have in common is that those who competed in the regular season in the season's ToC rematched in the finals. Later, through the 2023 CWC, S37 champions Josh Saak, Emily Sands, and Nick Cascone had the opportunity to advance to the 2024 ToC, but only Emily advanced to the semifinals.
  4. Including other tournaments, it is the first female winner in four years since Claire Sattler, the winner of the 2018 Teen Tournament. If you expand the scope, Jessica Stephen of 2022 SCT is also included, but Claire is actually the latest because it is not determining the winner, but determining additional ToC entrants. Prior to that, runner-up finishes for Larissa Kelly (6x) for S25, Emma Boettcher (3x) for S36, and Jennifer Quail (8x) for S37 were the best results.
  5. For reference, out of 133 matchups held under the 2-day rule, 1st place won 91 times, 2nd place 32 times, and 3rd place 10 times. In particular, it seems that the rules have been changed because there are many cases where the possibility of a reversal decreases when the gap widens.
  6. Because of that, unlike the previous ToC, there are many games to be played, but the prize money for winning the ToC after the National College Championship and S22 was the same, so there were some regretful reactions this season, wishing the prize money was higher.
  7. In particular, Matt defeated James, the inaugural winner, in the first match of the preliminary round, and Mattea showed a great performance by having a close match with James in the semifinals and finals.

References[]


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