‘Jeopardy!’ Champions Wildcard Kicks Off With Dominant Win
Spoiler Alert
[Warning: The following post contains MAJOR spoilers for the Monday, January 5, episode of Jeopardy!]
The Jeopardy! Second Chance Tournament had come to an end, and another tournament took its place. The Champions Wildcard kicked off on Monday, January 5, with a dominant win.
The Champions Wildcard has 15 contestants who came just short of qualifying for the Tournament of Champions, plus the three champions from Second Chance. This champion will determine the final contestant in this year’s ToC.
Whoever wins each game moves on to the semi-finals, along with the next four highest-scoring players who didn’t win, making a total of nine. From there, the contestants battle it out until one moves on to the ToC.
The first game had Dargan Ware from Bessemer, Alabama. Ware won two games in October 2025, leaving him with a two-day total of $47,801. He competed against Bill McKinney, from San Diego, California. McKinney played three games, but only won two. Stell Trout, from Houston, Texas, was the third contestant competing in the tournament. She won one game in June 2025.
Ware, an attorney and writer, started off in the lead with his opponents in the negatives. However, Trout, a software engineer, quickly got back into the positives and found the Daily Double.
With $1,400 in her bank, she made it a true Daily Double. In “The Best & The Brightest,” the clue read, “Founded in 1946 as a motel chain, this now-international hotel brand is appropriately headquartered in Arizona.”
“What is Sin City?” she answered incorrectly. The correct response was Best Western, so Trout dropped down to $0.
By the end of the round, Ware led with $5,400. McKinney, a hospitality executive, was in second place with $2,000. Trout had $1,400.
In Double Jeopardy, Trout found the first DD on clue one. She wagered $2,000 in “The Vikings.” The clue was “The first evidence of a European presence in America is an 11th c. Viking settlement at L’Anse aux Meadows on this island.” She answered correctly with “What is Newfoundland?” giving her $3,400.
Two clues later, she found the last DD. With $3,400, Trout wagered all of her money in “Literary Beginnings.” The clue read “Jorge Luis Borges’ “A Universal History of Infamy” has been called the first book in this literary genre.”
She hesitated before answering, “What is magical realism?” This gave her the lead with $6,800.
Trout dominated the rest of the round, ending with $16,000. McKinney was in second place with $13,200. Ware had $2,600.
The category for Final Jeopardy was “Science.” The clue read, “Important in developing vaccines against TB, they were domesticated as a food source in the Andes region around 5000 B.C.”
Two of the contestants had the right answer. Ware answered, “What are llamas?” He was wrong and wagered $400, so he ended with $2,200. McKinney wrote down “What is a guinea pig?” but crossed it out. The game show couldn’t accept the crossed-out response, so he dropped down to $12,200 after wagering $1,000. Trout also had Guinea Pig, which was the correct response. She wagered $10,401, giving her $26,401.
Trout advanced to the semi-finals. Three new contestants will play tomorrow to find out who will join Trout.
Jeopardy!, weekdays, check local listings, stream next day on Hulu and Peacock
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