This Is Jeopardy: Failures of The Super-Champions
Epilogue: “Tell Us What They’ve Won”
Over the years since their original appearances many of these super champions have appeared on Jeopardy more than once and very likely will do so again, given how the show works. So before we say goodbye to our departing champions, here’s how they’ve done in the postseason since and where they rank on the all-time leaderboard as of this writing.
David Madden was invited to participate in the Battle of the Decades during the 2000s but because of a contract issue that was never clear, he didn’t participate. Alex Trebek spoke for the fans when he said: “That’s too bad because he will be missed.”
That situation had apparently resolved himself in 2019 and he was one of the players invited back to the Jeopardy All-Stars. Brad Rutter drafter him to play on his team, along with Larissa Kelly. His brilliant performance including two correct Final Jeopardy responses enabled Team Brad to win the million dollar grand prize.
He was among the first players to participate in the 2024 Jeopardy Invitational and he won his quarterfinal match (more on that below) to face off against Amy Schneider in the semi-finals. She went ahead of him on the final clue of Double Jeopardy which led to her advancing to the finals (and the controversy that followed. As of this writing his total of $785,733 in winnings ranks him 7th all-time among Jeopardy contestants.
For reasons that were never clear Arthur Chu was not invited to participate in the All-Star Games in 2019 most likely due to online controversy at the time. That has passed in 2024 when he was invited back to the Jeopardy Invitational Tournament. He went into the Jeopardy round with a significant lead over David Madden and MacKenzie Jones but a wager of $10,000 on a Daily Double in Double Jeopardy that went wrong did him in. As a result David Madden went on to win in a runaway. His winnings of $403,200 rank him 24th all-time in money win.
Julia Collins was invited to captain a team in the Jeopardy All-Stars and she drafted among others Ben Ingram, who had become a close friend and Seth Wilson. Ironically she would end up being the weak link of her team. Having the misfortune of going up against Ken Jennings’s team in the first round, her team was in a distant second at the end of the first game. Julia was up to play Final Jeopardy but she would be the only player to respond incorrectly. As a result her team lost everything going into Game 2. In Game 2, playing against Ken and Austin Rogers in Double Jeopardy she was only able to ring in twice the entire round and in part due to her poor performance, her team was the first to be eliminated. They would share in a prize of $50,000.
Not long after Julia’s appearance on the All-Star Games James Holzhauer would move into second place in games’ won and the last three years she now ranks seventh on that score. She was one of the more glaring absences from the first Jeopardy Invitational Tournament, though that may change this year. As of this writing her $495,767 ranks her sixteenth in money won.
After defeating Julia in the All-Star Games Ben Ingram and Julia Collins became close personal friends. As a result Julia made her first draft pick Ben ahead of Seth Wilson and several players who were still available. Ben proved to be the most formidable member of team Julia, finishing with $5600 in his competition with Ken Jennings in the Jeopardy round of Game 1 and getting Final Jeopardy correct in Game 2. But as listed above, his efforts were for naught and Team Julia was the first team eliminated.
Ben was thankful to be participating in the Jeopardy Invitational Tournament last year because in the years since he had undergone open-heart surgery. Despite his best efforts he was unable get started against Victoria Groce in his appearance and lost to her in the first round. His total of $449,201 ranks him 18th on the all-time winnings list as of this writing.
Matt Jackson was drafted by Ken Jennings to play on his team because he admired a long winning streak. Matt’s play in the Double Jeopardy round of Team Ken’s first win assured a runaway victory for them and guaranteed them a spot in the finals. He played equally well in the Double Jeopardy found of the first game of the finals and it was only due to superb play of Brad Rutter in the Double Jeopardy round of the second game that Brad’s team locked up the tournament at the end of that round. He would share in a second place total of $300,000.
In his return to the Jeopardy Invitational Tournament he absolutely dominated Alan Lin and Terry O’Shea to runaway with the quarterfinal with the highest one game total of the entire tournament. In the semi-final he was in a hard fought match between Sam Buttrey and Victoria Groce and would end up in a respectable third place, earning $10,000 before leaving. His total of $623, 612 ranks him 11th
Alex Jacob would play magnificently as part of Team Buzzy in the first round of play, being one of the few players to that point in Jeopardy history to do absolutely run rings around Brad Rutter during the first stage of the Jeopardy round of Game 1 and Double Jeopardy of Game 2. His play enabled Team Buzzy to clinch the wild card spot.
In the wild card match, he played brilliantly in the Jeopardy round of the first game to give his team to lead. And he was firing on all cylinders during Double Jeopardy when his decision to go all in on Daily Doubles finally backfired. As a result his team was eliminated from contention at the end of Double Jeopardy, though he would share in a prize of $75,000 for that.
Invited back for Game 6 of the 2024 Jeopardy Invitational he played superbly in the Jeopardy round against Jennifer Quail and Brandon Blackwell. He was in second place at the end of Double Jeopardy; however both he and Brandon would be unable to respond correctly to that day’s Final Jeopardy allowing Jennifer to advance. His $431,802 rank him 21st all time.
Seth Wilson was drafted by Julia Collins to play on her team and played respectably in the Double Jeopardy round of Game 1 and the Jeopardy round of Game 2, giving 14 correct responses and only one incorrect one combined. But neither was enough to overcome either the poor play of Julia and the dominant play of Ken Jennings and as was mentioned, Team Julia was eliminated first and he shared in a $50,000 prize.
Like his captain he was not invited back to participate in last year’s Invitational Tournament though that may change soon enough. As of this writing his $288,669 currently ranks him 43rd in all time winnings, though he still ranks sixteenth in all time wins in regular season play.
Austin Rogers was one of the six captains invited back and he would draft Roger Craig and Leonard Cooper to play with him. He had to misfortune to play against Ken in both the Jeopardy and Double Jeopardy rounds of their two matches but his play would be solid enough to guarantee his team a wild card spot.
Playing in Double Jeopardy against fellow team captains Buzzy Cohen and Colby Burnett, he managed to lead his team to a more than respectable third place before a Final Jeopardy gutted all three teams. The three captains would meet for Final Jeopardy in Game 2 with Team Austin clinging to a narrow lead but an incorrect response for all three players ended Team Austin hopes. He would share in a $75,000 prize.
Austin faced off against Celeste DiNucci and Amy Schneider in the Jeopardy Invitational and could not overcome Amy’s momentum in Double Jeopardy that gave her a runaway victory. His $493,000 ranks him 17th all time.
Buzzy Cohen was named a team captain in the Jeopardy All-Star Games and drafted Alex Jacob and Jennifer Giles to play for him. He played masterfully in the Double Jeopardy game of the first round but being the only player in Final Jeopardy of the second game doomed his team a chance for an automatic advancement though they did move on to the Wild Card. He played superbly in the Double Jeopardy round of the Wild Card game but a risky gamble in Final Jeopardy left his team with no money at the end of Game 1. His team would end up sharing in a third place prize.
As of this writing Buzzy’s main role on Jeopardy seems to have been that of a guest host, in addition to emceeing the 2021 Tournament of Champions he would host the unaired Champions Wildcard play in matches during the early months of 2024. It is unclear if he has retired from Jeopardy play. As of this writing his $441,603 ranks him 19th in money won.
Jason Zuffranieri was among those invited back to the 2024 Jeopardy Invitational Tournament. In his quarterfinal match he faced off against Larissa Kelly and Leonard Cooper. Larissa got off to a fast start in the Jeopardy round but Jason grabbed some momentum in Double Jeopardy and managed to catch and pass her briefly. However Larissa retook the lead by the end of the round. He was the only player to respond incorrectly in Final Jeopardy but it mattered little as Larissa was correct. As of this writing his total $549,496 ranks him 14th on the Jeopardy leaderboard.
As to whether any of them will move further down the leaderboard…well that’s what the next few months will determine. Stay tuned.