‘Jeopardy!’ JIT Kicks off With Thriller — Did Andrew He Win?
This… Is… Jeopardy!
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Past Jeopardy! winners and fan-favorites have been invited to compete in the first-ever Jeopardy! Invitational Tournament, aka “JIT.” The games began on Wednesday, March 20, following Yogesh Raut’s Tournament of Champions victory on March 19. And fans were eager to see the first lineup of returning players in the new invitational.
On the line for every player in this tourney is a $100,000 grand and an invitation to compete in the next Jeopardy Masters. Competing on March 20 were Andrew He, Dan Pawson, and Pam Mueller. He is the freshest player on fans’ memories from this group, as he last was seen on the game show in 2023 and his opponents last appeared years ago.
He is a Season 38 five-game champion, 2022 Tournament of Champions first runner-up and 2023 “Jeopardy! Masters” fourth place finisher, and stay-at-home dad from Concord, California. Pawson is Season 24 nine-game champion, 2009 Tournament of Champions winner, and Battle of the Decades quarterfinalist, and a global health consultant from Arlington, Virginia.
Mueller is a 2000 College Championship winner, 2001 Tournament of Champions semifinalist, 2005 Ultimate Tournament of Champions Sweet Six finisher, Battle of the Decades semifinalist, All-Star Games second runner-up (as part of Team Colby), and a justice researcher originally from Chicago, Illinois.
Things weren’t looking great for He after he was trailing in third place for the first two rounds of gameplay. His score at the first break was 0, and that only increased to 600 by the second break. It was in Double Jeopardy that he staged a big comeback with the help of two key Daily Double wins and high wagers. Mueller stopped He from scoring a runaway game by managing to get her score up to exactly half of his. If she bet it all in Final Jeopardy, which she did, she could have won.
The scores going into the final round were Andrew at 33,600, Pam with 16,800 and Dan at 6,400. Unfortunately, both Mueller and Pawson gave incorrect answers to the final prompt. Both risked all of their earnings to try and beat He, but they both ended with 0. He played it safe by wagering $1, leaving his final score at 33,601, making him the champion of the first JIT and advancing him to the next round of the tournament. He congratulated and applauded his opponents for the good game at the end.
That’s one game down, many more to go! Next up are 2013 Teen Tournament winner Leonard Cooper, 19-time champion Jason Zuffranieri, and 2009 Tournament of Champions first runner-up Larissa Kelly, and later in the tournament we’ll see favorites Amy Schneider, Sam Buttrey, Sam Kavanaugh, and more return for more trivia thrills.
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