‘Jeopardy!’ Tournament of Champions Crowns a Winner! Details on Nail-Biter of a Final
This… Is… Jeopardy!
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A new victor has now emerged from Jeopardy!‘s 31st Tournament of Champions, which finally produced the series’ winner in Tuesday night’s nail-biter of an episode.
Ahead of the installment, which was the sixth in the tournament, Yogesh Raut came in fresh off a second win in Monday’s episode, catching up to Ben Chan and his previous two wins. Trailing behind both of them, but still not out of contention, was Troy Meyer, who had one win of the three needed to succeed.
Ultimately, only one of these three Jeopardy! favorites could take the top honors, and it was the Final Jeopardy round that sealed the deal.
Throughout the episode, everything seemed to be coming up Troy Meyer. In the first round, he got six clues right and led the pack with $9,400 to Raut’s $5,400 and Chan’s $3,400. In the second, his lead continued, with him securing $19,800 to Raut’s $16,600 and Chan’s $3,200 (which was so little thanks to a very unfortunate Double Jeopardy bet). If Meyer were to win the episode, there’d be a three-way tie, and they’d all return for a seventh bout.
However, thanks to one wrong answer by Meyer and a very wise wager by Raut, it was the latter who took the title of TOC Champion.
The category for Final Jeopardy was “The Human Body,” and the clue was: “This glandular organ that starts to shrink at puberty is known for being where the cells key to adaptive immunity develop.”
Only Chan had the correct answer — “What is the thymus?” — and even though he bet it all, he was too far behind his competitors to reasonably catch up. Both Raut and Meyer guessed the wrong body parts (“What is spleen?” and “What is pituitary?” were their respective answers), but their wagers were drastically different, which completely changed the game.
Meyer put $13,401 on the table — this would’ve kept him in the lead in the case that Raut bet it all and got the answer right. However, Raut bet just $3,201, apparently predicting that Meyer would either get the answer wrong or bet nothing at all. In the end, Raut squeaked ahead of the pack in a photo finish with $13,399 to Chan’s $6,400 and Meyer’s $6,399.
With that, Raut had won the $250,000 prize pot, while Chan, who placed second in the tournament, took home $100,000, and Meyer got $50,000 for third. In addition to the loot, Raut has also earned a spot on Jeopardy! Masters Season 2 with his victory.
Fans of the show largely agreed that it was the Final Jeopardy! round that consistently doomed Meyer’s chances of winning, with one viewer writing, “Troy led going into FJ 4 out of the 6 games in the finals, and only won once. Pretty astounding.” Another was surprised at that outcome based on his prior performances, writing, “It’s kind of surprising, actually — given his success in Learned League, I’d think the ‘piece it together’-style Final Jeopardy clues would’ve suited him well. But I guess it’s a little different when you only have thirty seconds and the ‘Think!’ music is mercilessly playing.”
Regarding Raut’s come-from-behind victory, one fan contended it was well-deserved, saying, “Yogesh earned his win. He was the most consistent player in that ToC and didn’t have any bad games in that 6-game stretch. But I’m elated that Ben came in second. He played super well and was just on the cusp of victory.”
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