| Host | |
| Ken Jennings | |
| Contestants | |
| see below | |
| Announcer | |
| Johnny Gilbert | |
| Broadcast | |
 | |
| Packager | |
| Sony Pictures Television | |
Contestants[]
| Rank | Season | Name | Wins | TW | Results |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CJ! | 40 (P) | Lisa Ann Walter[1] | A | $1,000,000[2][3] | |
| 41 (P) | W. Kamau Bell | ||||
| CW (S42) |
41 | Cameron Berry | $126,600 | ★ | |
| 1 | Scott Riccardi ($ S41) | 16 | $458,000 | ★ | |
| 2 | Laura Faddah | 8 | $95,599 | ★ | |
| 3 | 42 | Paolo Pasco | 7 | $198,717 | ★ |
| 4 | 41 | Andrew Hayes | 6 | $140,804 | |
| 5 | Liam Starnes | $126,584 | |||
| 6 | Josh Weikert | $103,202 | |||
| 7 | Ben Ganger | 5 | $108,915 | ||
| 8 | 42 | TJ Fisher | $102,723 | ★ | |
| 9 | 41 | Alex DeFrank | 4 | $110,400[4] | |
| 10 | 42 | Allegra Kuney | $95,600 | ★ | |
| 11 | Steven Olson | $76,382 | |||
| 12 | 41 | Bryce Wargin | $72,199 | ||
| 13 | Ashley Chan | $69,400 | ★ | ||
| 14 | Matt Massie | 3 | $82,800 | ||
| 15 | 42 | Tom Devlin | $76,199 | ★ | |
| 16 | 41 | Brendan Liaw | $61,398 | ||
| 17 | Mike Dawson | $59,000 | |||
| 18 | 42 | Aaron Levine | $51,999 |
Game Summary[]
| Game | Air Date | Name | Score | Name | Score | Name | Score | Detail |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| QF #1 | January 19, 2026 | Liam Starnes | $0 | Tom Devlin | $19,400 | Aaron Levine | $1,601 | # |
| QF #2 | January 20, 2026 | Andrew Hayes | $8,001 | Brendan Liaw | $9,337 | Allegra Kuney | $18,190 | # |
| QF #3 | January 21, 2026 | Bryce Wargin | $201 | Cameron Berry | $7,199 | Ben Ganger | $2,000 | # |
| QF #4 | January 22, 2026 | Ashley Chan | $4,398 | W. Kamau Bell | $2,600 | Alex DeFrank | $1,999 | # |
| QF #5 | January 23, 2026 | Steven Olson | $32,917 | Josh Weikert | $5,600 | Matt Massie | $11,600 | # |
| QF #6 | January 26, 2026 | Lisa Ann Walter | -$2,600 | Mike Dawson | $0 | TJ Fisher | $15,199 | # |
| SF #1 | January 27, 2026 | Scott Riccardi | $41,200 | Tom Devlin | $19,000 | Allegra Kuney | $900 | # |
| SF #2 | January 28, 2026 | Laura Faddah | $1 | Steven Olson | $2,996 | TJ Fisher | $10,799 | # |
| SF #3 | January 29, 2026 | Paolo Pasco | $24,800 | Cameron Berry | $801 | Ashley Chan | $0 | # |
| EX | January 30, 2026[5] | Scott Riccardi | $5,200 | Laura Faddah | $10,401 | Paolo Pasco | $30,118 | # |
| Final | February 2, 2026 | Scott Riccardi | $8,200 | Paolo Pasco | $25,479 | TJ Fisher | $7,023 | # |
| February 3, 2026 | $9,800 | $32,305 | $7,777 | # | ||||
| February 4, 2026 | $2,800 | $33,057 | $4,199 | # | ||||
| Total | 0 | 3 | 0 |
Evaluation[]
Paolo Pasco's victory made him the first 7-time champion to win the ToC, becoming the fifth ToC winner in the post-Trebek era. Steven Olson also tied Mark Japinga for the most consecutive victories among champions who have defeated ToC winners.
Despite the one-sided outcome of the final, this tournament was also evaluated as a good matchup. Before TJ's victory, the champions with fewer than 4 consecutive wins were on a roll, and the first group of the semifinals was said to be a similar match to the third group of the semifinals in 2011.[6] In particular, there are many who would like to see Scott face off in the next J!IT (or in the 2026 Jeopardy! Masters if the tournament keeps the 9-player format), including the two who faced Scott Riccardi in the semi-finals, Steven Olson, who defeated Paolo Pasco to become the new champion, and Cameron Berry, who faced him in the semi-finals.[7]
Many believe this finale was similar to the 2015 ToC, the 2019 All-Star Game, and the ToC. Before the finals, many expected a close battle between Scott and Paolo. However, as the match unfolded, Paolo emerged victorious over both. His success was due to his seven out of nine DDs, and his dominance in Double Jeopardy[8]. As a result, this competition, where such skilled players gather, is a competition that makes us realize that while skill is important, luck is also important.
In particular, Paolo has shown overwhelming skills in ToC, and is emerging as a potential rival to Victoria and Yogesh, who are both showing great performances in this masters.
Trivia[]
- Eligibility lasted from December 9, 2024, to November 14, 2025 (Harrison Whitaker's fourth game, where he won and is eligible for the 2027 ToC the following game).
- In this ToC, 8 people have competed together in a regular-season play game before:
- Alex → Cameron → Josh → Bryce → Mike → Andrew
- Paolo → Steven
- This ToC will be the first time where two Celebrity Jeopardy! winners will play in the Tournament of Champions. In this case, Lisa Ann Walter and W. Kamau Bell.
- Just like in 2022 and 2025, the top three seeded champions are automatic semifinalists.
- An exhibition match will be held between Scott, Laura, and Paolo, who received a bye to the semifinals.
- W. Kamau Bell is the first Celebrity Jeopardy! winner to not reach the semifinals.
- Lisa Ann Walter is the first Celebrity Jeopardy! contestant to not participate in Final Jeopardy! outside of Celebrity Jeopardy! events.
- After his semifinal win, Scott Riccardi became the 8th super-champion to advance to the Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions finals.
- With Paolo's semifinal win, this is the 7th consecutive ToC finals that have at least one finalist with Asian descent (2017: Alan Lin (Chinese); 2019: James Holzhauer (half-Japanese); 2021: Veronica Vichit-Vadakan (Thai); 2022: Andrew He (Chinese); 2024: Yogesh Raut (Indian) and Ben Chan (Chinese); 2025: Neilesh Vinjamuri (Indian); 2026: Paolo Pasco (Filipino)).
- Paolo Pasco is the first 7-time champion to win the Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions.
- He is also the youngest 20th-century-born ToC winner.
- He is also the first Gen Z ToC winner.
- He is also the first ToC winner born in the 2000s.
- He is also the first ToC winner to win in a clean sweep.
- He is the second tournament winner to win in a clean sweep after Matt Amodio, who won the best-of-four game finals in just two games in the 2025 Jeopardy! Invitational Tournament.
- This is the first ToC best-of-seven game finals where more than one contestant didn’t win one match point.
References[]
- ↑ Lisa Ann returned in this tournament after declining to play in the 2025 Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions due to Abbott Elementary taping the same week as the 2025 Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions taping.
- ↑ Lisa Ann won $1,000,000 for the Entertainment Community Fund.
- ↑ Kamau won $1,000,000 for DonorsChoose.
- ↑ Alex DeFrank won $5,000 on Sports Jeopardy! in October 2014. He then won an additional $105,400 throughout his 4-game winning streak in regular-season play on Jeopardy!.
- ↑ Played between the quarterfinals and the semifinals but televised after the semifinals.
- ↑ All three were very active in the main event and the quarterfinal, and while a fierce battle was expected, one of them had something in common: one player monopolized Daily Double and ended up with a runaway game.
- ↑ Among them, Steven Olson has many regrets because if he hadn't made a mistake in the semi-final Daily Double, he could have advanced to the rematch and had a close match with Paolo Pasco again, and Cameron Berry also has many regrets because he could have aimed to become the first Champions Wildcard player to become the ToC finalist and win the ToC (following Tom Cubbage and Colby Burnett's footsteps).
- ↑ In 2015, Alex Jacob crushed Matt Jackson with a daring DD, and in 2019, James won against Emma thanks to five of six takedowns.
Art Fleming Era
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| 1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1979 |
Syndicated Era
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| 2006 | 2007 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2013 |
| 2014 | 2015 | 2017 | 2019 | 2021 | 2022 |
| 2024 | 2025 | 2026 | 2027 | ||