The 2025 Jeopardy! Champions Wildcard is a tournament for wildcard players who will compete for a berth at the Tournament of Champions. The champions from 1 to 3 wins, along with the Second Chance winners of the season will face off, and the winner will be given the right to participate in the ToC, which will be played in the post season.
Five of the participants have competed with ToC entrants before in their original appearance:
David Erb – Jen and Drew
Isaac Hirsch and Neilesh Vinjamuri – Jay
Mark Fitzpatrick – Eamonn
Alison Betts – Marko
This is the first Champions Wildcard tournament to have wildcards.
Jen Feldman is the only female participating in the 2025 Champions Wildcard.
Jay Fisher is the only 3-time champion to play in the 2025 Jeopardy! Champions Wildcard competition, due to his 3-game total being the lowest among the nine 3-time champions in the 2024–2025 Jeopardy! postseason events.
For the first time since 2021 Jeopardy! Professors Tournament (which was three years and a month ago), the 15-player system and WC system were reintroduced.
This is also the first tournament to determine two ToC finalists in one tournament.
This tournament was taped on November 12–13, 2024, three weeks before the first runner-up knew that they will be advancing to the ToC as Lisa Ann Walter's replacement.
As of this tournament, the runner-up prizes are $40,000 each instead of $50,000 for second place and $25,000 for third place.