2019 Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions (2024)

Contestants[]

Rank	Season	Name	Wins	TW	Results	WC
C	34	Dhruv Gaur	A	$100,000	★
T	35	Francois Barcomb			★
1		James Holzhauer ($ S35)	32	$2,464,216	★
2	34	Josh Hill	7	$164,721
3		Ryan Fenster		$159,497
4	35	Kyle Jones		$147,403	★
5	34	Rob Worman	6	$134,900
6	35	Alan Dunn	5	$122,802
7		Steven Grade		$116,501	★
8	34	Gilbert Collins		$86,201	★
9		Rachel Lindgren		$76,999	★
10	35	Eric R. Backes	4	$107,602
11		Anneke Garcia		$105,497
12		Lindsey Shultz		$103,002	★
13		Emma Boettcher	3	$98,002	★

Game Summary[]

Trivia[]

Contest Related[]

• Eligibility lasted from November 20, 2017 to June 6, 2019 (Emma Boettcher's last game).
• This ToC was the last to be hosted by Alex Trebek and was the last ToC before COVID-19.
• Larry Martin, the 2018 Teachers Tournament winner, automatically qualified for this ToC, but tragically passed away on January 25, 2019.
• On July 10, 2019, Jeopardy! took the unusual step of announcing the tournament field four months ahead of its airing (and before the tournament was even taped). The announcement included news that due to the sudden passing of Larry Martin, in an unprecedented move, Emma Boettcher would take his place instead of the next eligible player, 4-time champion Dave Leffler ($100,102). Emma Boettcher defeated James Holzhauer in regular play but her three wins would normally have been insufficient to qualify her into the ToC (June 6 was the day Boettcher lost in regular play).
• In addition to skipping over Leffler, Boettcher skipped over six other 4-time champions (Dinerstein, Schmidt. Presloid, Fuchs, Borer, Becker).
• Like S6, all tournament winners who participated in ToC make it to the semifinal^[1], Since S16, two or more other tournament winners have advanced to the ToC Semifinals.
• Since S24, it is the case in which two or more champions with less than 4 consecutive wins or winners of other tournaments have reached the finals^[2].
• Like the previous ToC, this ToC, the former cast wore a purple ribbon on their chest in memory of Larry Martin, who died of pancreatic cancer^[3].
• Two months after this ToC, Jeopardy!: The Greatest of All Time aired on primetime.
• The two final episodes are available on their available YouTube channel for a limited time.

Contestant Related[]

• James became the first superchampion to win the ToC and Among ToC winners, it is the recipient of the most prize money^[4]; he was also the last ToC winner during Alex Trebek's lifetime, and for the first time, one of the participants who received more than the ToC winning prize money in the regular game officially became the ToC winner.
• Francois become seventh tournament winner and second Teacher's Tournament Winner to become a ToC finalist.
• Emma is the first 3-time champion to become a ToC finalist since 2007 ToC finalist Doug Hicton. She also becomes the fourth finalist as a 3-time champion for regular games, and she is the third consecutive female champion since Pam Mifflin in S13^[5].
• Dhruv made it to the semifinals of the College Tournament winners in 5 years after Terry O'Shea, and among men, he is a college winner who reached the semifinals on his own in 28 years since Scott Gillispie in S8.
• James and Emma are the third regular-season rematch in a ToC since Keith Whitener (7x) and Paul Nelson (5x) in 2013^[6]. As a result, Francois would face off against those who competed in rematches, such as the Teachers Tournament, which he won.
• Runner-up Emma’s 2-day total is currently the highest non-winning 2-day total in any tournament.
• With James winning, a winner from Group 3 was produced for the first time in 21 years since Dan Melia, the S14 ToC winner, and the top seed won the championship in 10 years after Dan Pawson^[7]. Also, in the unlimited winning streak system, he is the only ToC winner who has beaten all opponents in the winning streak system once.

Evaluation[]

As many expected, James won without a hitch. This makes him the most money holder and longest winning streak among ToC winners. However, he also had a close match with Emma in the final, and Emma could have won if he hadn't correct FJ in the second game, or he hadn't spread the score in the first game.

In this ToC, there were many people who thought it would end in a one-sided confrontation because James showed overwhelming skill and the total prize money of the other 14 players was not up to James. Also, there were opinions that there would be a variable again this time because there were many abnormalities before that.In fact, except for James, the rest of the confrontation was intense. First of all, among the champions with more than 6 wins in a row, there was not a single one who came up on their own except for James. At least Kyle made it to the semifinals with WC, but lost to Emma. Also, the progress of other tournament winners was striking. In particular, Francois, who placed 3rd, showed overwhelming skills in the Quarterfinal and played a big role in the semifinals, winning after a fierce battle. There are many opinions that if he came out at a different time, he could have been aiming for a championship like S29's Colby.

Among them, none other than Emma who benefited the most. Originally, it was impossible to advance to ToC with the ball that beat James, the strongest opponent at the time, but as a special case, they advanced to ToC, and even set a record of winning runner-up through a fierce lineup at the time. Among her opponents, Kyle Jones and Josh Hill are seven-time champions, and four-time champion Eric E. Backes also made over $40,000 ($48,001) in her debut appearance. Not to mention James, the finalist, and Francois is also a Teacher Tournament winner, so her runner-up is terrific. Perhaps if another event were to take place, she would likely be invited, like Michael Falk and Yogesh Raut, ToC winner of S22 and S40, respectively.

There are many reviews that James and Emma saved this ToC, and the final match was briefly shown on Jeopardy! YouTube.

References[]