‘Jeopardy! Masters’ Fans React After Player’s ‘Heartbreaking’ Loss

Jeopardy! Masters continued with back-to-back quarterfinal games on Wednesday, May 21, and fans are rallying behind one contestant who ran out of time while giving his Final Jeopardy response in game two
The first game of the night was a matchup between Matt Amodio, Yogesh Raut, and Victoria Groce. Amodio had a brutal Jeopardy round and went into Double Jeopardy with just $200, trailing behind Yogesh with $8,400 and Groce with $5,400.
Double Jeopardy was a tale of two Daily Doubles, as Groce doubled her score after finding the first one and giving the correct answer, and Amodio finding himself back with $0 after getting his Daily Double clue wrong. Going into the final round, Amodio was in dead last with just $1,200, while Groce had $32,000 and Raut had $20,800.
Final Jeopardy was a triple stumper. The category was Portmanteau Words, and the clue read, “A play on a portmanteau coined in 2012, this 7-letter word is now used to describe a similar U.K. headline from 1973.” The correct answer was “What is Brentry?”
After wagering and losing $9,601, Groce won the game with $22,399, followed by Raut with $9,599 after an $11,201 wager and Matt in third place with a final score of $1,200.
Game two between Juveria Zaheer, Roger Craig, and Isaac Hirsch ended in heartbreak for one contestant, and set fans talking. Things were close after the Jeopardy round, with Zaheer in the lead with $4,200, followed closely by Craig with $4,000, and then Hirsch in last with $2,400.
In Double Jeopardy, Zaheer found both Daily Doubles, guessing one correctly and one incorrectly. As Craig and Hirsch racked up correct answers, she ended the round in third place with $6,000. It was very close between Craig and Hirsch heading into Final Jeopardy, as they went in with $10,800 and $10,000, respectively.
With a category of “The Presidency,” the three contestants were tasked with this clue: “Continuing his tradition of vetoes as a mayor & as a governor, he trails only FDR in total vetoes as President.” The correct answer was “Who is Grover Cleveland?” which both Zaheer and Hirsch answered correctly, bringing their totals to $12,000 and $12,001, respectively.
Tough luck for the soft-spoken Roger Craig. Good news for Isaac Hirsch in this #JeopardyMasters QF game. Hirsch, pornstache and all, picks up 3 points and moves to 3rd place. One more game for each contestant, the bottom 2 getting eliminated. The heat is on! pic.twitter.com/Kankf0mimX
— The Sport Dogtor, M.D. (@MartySande34622) May 22, 2025
Unfortunately, Craig ran out of time while writing his response, only eeking out “Who is Clev.?” so his answer didn’t count, which meant that he lost his $799 wager and ended with $10,001, losing him the game in the most agonizing way.
As one fan pointed out on Reddit, “Well, Roger’s wager made it to where it wouldn’t have mattered if he was right or wrong, but damn you have to feel for him after that one.” Still, social media users were devastated that Craig ran out of time.
“My heart breaks for Roger :( . That’s an absolutely tragic way to have the win taken from you,” someone wrote, and another person added, “Feeling for Roger after that Final clue.” Another commenter said, “I’m hurting over here seeing Roger’s almost made it response.”
However, Craig has a chance to make amends next week when all six quarterfinalists return for more quarterfinal games on May 27. Groce, Raut, and Hirsch will compete in the first game of the night, while Zaheer, Amodio, and Craig will go head-to-head in game two. Here are the latest standings:

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Who is your pick to win this year’s Jeopardy! Masters tournament? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below!
Jeopardy! Masters, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 9/8c, ABC, next day on Hulu