‘Jeopardy! Masters’ Ends in a Stunner: Here’s the Real ‘Final Boss’
Spoiler Alert
[Warning: The following post contains MAJOR spoilers about the Season 2 finale of Jeopardy! Masters.]
The second season of Jeopardy! Masters has ended with a new champion of champions taking the top prize. On Wednesday night’s finale, Victoria Groce, Yogesh Raut, and James Holzhauer competed in two back-to-back, total score games to find out who was the true master of this trio, and one contestant closed with a decisive lead that left no doubt.
As was evident from the very beginning of this season, it is indeed Victoria Groce who has emerged as the best of the best this time, handily dispensing with self-proclaimed “final boss” James Holzhauer and Yogesh Raut for the $500,000 cash prize.
Here’s how it all went down.
Game One
The first round was a spirited affair, featuring a category with special guest Jason Kelce and some friendly sidechats about the proper pronunciation of proper nouns like Everest and Salt ‘N Pepa. Otherwise, it was pretty evenly matched, with Groce going into Double Jeopardy with $4,600, Holzhauer just behind her with $4,400, and Raut in a close third with $3,600.
Before Double Jeopardy could begin, each of the contestants then talked about the charities that they were playing for — with the winner’s choice receiving a $100,000 donation from the show as a bonus. Raut revealed he was playing for the Equal Justice Initiative to combat racism in America; Holzhauer went local with his favorite high school student-aid organization Project 150; and Groce supported the Partners in Health organization, which provides healthcare resources to some of the poorest places in the world.
Double Jeopardy was, much like the first round, a close game. Groce made a sizable gain of $10,200 (a true daily double) on the “Health and Medicine” category, correctly identifying mesothelioma as the type of cancer so many legal commercials solicit clients for. Then, Holzhauer pushed his entire $10,400 onto the table in the “Alliteration All Around” category, and it paid off — Baffin Bay is indeed the water whose Eastern shore is formed by Greenland. From there, it was an absolute shootout between Groce and Holzhauer, while Raut kept himself in it.
Heading into Final Jeopardy, Holzhauer led with $27,200, Groce had $25,200, and Raut followed with $9,600. And Final Jeopardy was hardly decisive for any of them.
In the category “Politicians,” the clue was: “This man was the 1st to be governor of one state & then senator from another; 173 years later, Mitt Romney became the second.” Both Raut and Holzhauer guessed it correctly, while Groce got it wrong, but it only made a significant difference for Raut.
With $9,600 on the line, Raut improved his final first game score to $19,200; Groce’s dropped by $3,800 to $21,400; and Holzhauer improved his score by a slight $1,109 bet, bringing him to $28,309 and ensuring that Game Two would be utterly consequential for everyone.
Game Two
The second game started out better for Raut than the rest, as he snagged the first Daily Double, adding $1,799 to his early score by correctly identifying “I Can See Clearly Now” as the answer to this clue: “In the 1980s Windex competitor Glass Plus seized on the obvious & used a version of this 1972 song in its ads.” Raut’s spirits were clearly high throughout this round because he even made an impromptu Pretty Little Liars reference, just for funzies.
Going into the half, Raut led with $5,799, with Groce on his tail with $5,400, and Holzhauer in third with $2,600.
In Double Jeopardy, host Ken Jennings announced that a mistake in the first half would add $200 to both Groce and Holzhauer’s scores, putting her even nearer to Raut’s total. This time, the celebrity category cameo came from Jimmy Kimmel in “Hosts.”
Groce nabbed both Daily Doubles this time, both in the 800-point boxes. The first was for “Women in Poems,” and she put all $13,600 on the line with a major payoff; lo, Evangeline was the right answer to: “This lass was the daughter of Benedict Bellefontaine, “the wealthiest farmer of Grand-Pre.” The second Daily Double was in the category “New Material About Old Material,” and this time, she wagered just $800. The clue? “Taken to England in 1296, this 26x16x11 block of pale yellow sandstone has but one decoration — a Latin cross.” To that, Groce correctly answered, “Is this the Stone of Scone?”
Going into Final Jeopardy, thanks to these back-to-back Doubles, Groce had a massive lead of $34,000. If she bet anything, Holzhauer could catch up with a wise enough “final boss” style wager and a little luck from his $8,800, considering he had a healthy head start in round one; Raut was also very much still in contention with $15,799 on the round, too.
In the category “American Women,” the clue was: “The New York Times wrote of this woman who had died in 1951, ‘though she was forgotten at the time, part of her remained alive.” Holzhauer correctly guessed it was Henrietta Lacks, but his $908 wager wasn’t enough, and he knew it — alongside his answer, he wrote “*final boss death music*” and proceeded to act it out. He ended with a two-game score of $38,017. Raut also got it right and wagered $10,911, bringing his total to $45,910. Groce also got it right but bet zero, bringing her two-game total to a whopping $55,400 and earning her first place overall.
With that, Victoria Groce is the winner of Season 2, the $500,000 prize, and a healthy donation to her favorite philanthropy, while Raut placed second and nabbed $250,000, with Holzhauer placing third and taking home $150,000.
So, fans, were you surprised by the results of the final? Why or why not?
Conversation24 Comments
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Umm am I mathing this incorrectly? It was fully a runaway in the second game. As a result of the close game in the first, neither James or Yogesh had any chance of winning. They were playing for second in the final game. I'm not sure why this writer is suggesting it wasn't a total smackdown from Victoria Groce. The fact that she had so many runaways in a tournament supposedly made up of the best was highly impressive.
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I do not care for Raut. He seems self-centered and prone to pout if he doesn't get his way. Victoria was deserving of winning. She played an outstanding game. I really wanted James to win. He is my favorite. Throughout the match I felt his heart wasn't in it. To me he seemed to simply be go I ng through the motions. It didn't seem like he wanted to win and his usual enthusiasm wasn't present.
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As many times as we've watched James, we felt there was something off about this whole "tournament." Like he was holding back. Why?
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It was probably Victoria the game hog
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I was so happy to see a woman come out on top. All 3 were great competitors. Fantastic tournament.
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If James was the Final Boss, Victoria was The Undertaker.
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Glad to see Victoria win think she deserves it. However being a long time jeopardy fan I watched James closely and I know his game play. He will still be the GOAT. Congrats Victoria
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Me too. Shocking
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I think it was fantastic that Victoria won, especially considering the charity she played for. She was a sharp cookie!
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I am still standing by the Final Boss, no matter what. Contestants came to the game and mimicked lots of moves and saying that he does.He is a trendsetter and stands alone.No other player like him
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I think Victoria was such a game hog?! I didn’t even watch the last episode cause that smug & arrogant game hog won?! I think James,Matt,Amy,Mattea & Yogesh deserve to win & not Victoria the game hog?!
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I was surprised James didn't bet most of his total during Game 1. I believe had he doubled (or close to it), he would have cleared Victoria's total by a significant amount. I realize this is Thursday morning quarterback, but given the 'standard' is to go all in on Daily Doubles, I was surprised James didn't cover Victoria's potential total in Game 1. Had he done this (and she guessed incorrectly), he would have been in the driving spot even when Victoria crushed game 2.
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I really wanted James to win I'm a big fan of James.Don't like Yogish at All he is very arrogant. When Yogish tries to be funny no one laughed. I just wanted him to shut up and stop telling his not funny jokes.
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Jeopardy was rigged. There is no way James only ended with third place. James is to good to end that low. So I won't be watching it anymore
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All fantastic players, but….from the time of placing of a very poor, incorrect bet by James at end of game 1…a very stunning collapse—mostly on the sidelines—from the ‘Gambler’ from that point to the end. ‘
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Any gambler knows it's impossible to win 100% of the time ... unless you cheat. And a gambler can have an off day, get rattled by any number of events that occur both in-game and out, and play accordingly. His "final boss" boast was a psych-out attempt that obviously didn't work.
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I was pulling for Victoria from day one. She is very smart and classy. I think James is narcissistic, and deserved to lose. Get off your high horse James. There's a new sheriff in town!!
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Very disappointed that James didn’t win. I really didn’t like Victoria. She’s smart, but a show off
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James was the biggest show off. Victoria was just awesome. Nothing to hide nothing to show
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They are all showoffs in their own ways but Victoria's emotional baseline appears the happiest by far.
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This brings up an interesting thought. James is smart, and ultimately a show-off. You don't seem to mind those qualities in him because you say you still want him to win. Yet when Victoria has these same qualities, you say you didn't like her.So is it that, or is it something else that makes you not like Victoria?
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Victoria never let loose of the buzzer..everyone..all thr time which was very obvious had trouble buzzing in..SHE WANTED TO WIN and for me I didn't enjoy watching the Masters this time...Victoria was desperate to win..I'll never watch a show with her..
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Me either?! I think she was such a game hog?! I didn’t even watch the last episode cause that smug & arrogant game hog won?! I think James,Matt,Amy,Mattea & Yogesh deserve to win & not Victoria the game hog?!
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I'm just happy one of the deviants didn't win !
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