Jeopardy!: Tournament of Champions (2019)

November 5, 2019 12:44 PM - Season 36, Episode 41

One of the most anticipated regular events on the Jeopardy! calendar is here, as the annual Tournament of Champions features the biggest regular-game winner who's ever been on a ToC, as well as a very rare three-game winner.
posted by Etrigan (18 comments total)

I'm trying to make a more consistent effort to watch every night. I have long been a Jeopardy fan (grew up in a Jeopardy family!) and I can't help but think this may be our last season with Mr Trebek...
posted by supermedusa at 1:53 PM on November 5, 2019

I have only this to say after two days:

Before and After is the worst category type.
posted by Etrigan at 5:38 AM on November 6, 2019 [2 favorites]

Some of these “How did being a big Jeopardy winner effect your life” stories are just cringe-inducingly painful.

“So, I, uh, got a free pizza”
posted by The Gooch at 5:47 AM on November 6, 2019

Somehow, I'm not as interested in the Tournament this time around. I'm a regular viewer and I swear I didn't recognize any of Monday's players, and only one of Tuesday's players.
posted by Thorzdad at 5:52 AM on November 6, 2019

Anagrams is the second-worst category type.
posted by Huffy Puffy at 7:28 AM on November 6, 2019

The word play ones are always hit and miss. Either someone is on the ball or all three are totally clueless.
posted by Fukiyama at 7:41 AM on November 6, 2019

I'm a regular viewer and I swear I didn't recognize any of Monday's players, and only one of Tuesday's players.

Holzhauer destroyed a lot of the recent memory. Only Emma Boettcher came after him in this tournament.

Plus, there was no ToC in Season 35, so some of these people are from a long time ago -- Gilbert Collins's streak aired in January 2018. There would have been two Teacher's Tournament winners, but one of them has since died.
posted by Etrigan at 9:47 AM on November 6, 2019

I love Jeopardy! and i love before-and-afters.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 10:05 AM on November 6, 2019

Before and After is the worst category type.

You should see the categories on Wheel of Fortune these days!
posted by rhizome at 9:14 PM on November 6, 2019

Oh no: names to Roman numerals to numbers.

I think they’re messing with us. Football will be next.
posted by Huffy Puffy at 4:48 AM on November 7, 2019 [1 favorite]

Imagine making it to the Tournament of Champions, thinking, Okay, sure, I'm up against James Holzhauer, but I'm not just some rando -- I'm in the top 3 percent of contestants. I've proven that I won't fold when the camera turns on, and then still getting fucking smoked like a salmon.
posted by Etrigan at 7:02 AM on November 7, 2019 [1 favorite]

Those Roman numeral questions were hard. Also for the one that referred to Laura Ingalls Wilder's dad, I spent an embarrassingly large number of seconds trying to translate "Pa" into Roman numerals.
posted by Daily Alice at 7:44 AM on November 7, 2019 [1 favorite]

I thought the answer was 1050
posted by Flashman at 10:21 AM on November 7, 2019

Woof. Even with the wasted Daily Double, Holzhauer still treated them like they'd said something about his mom. I have no idea who the third person's gonna be in the finals, but I feel sorry for them getting in the way of Holzhauer-Boettcher II and III.
posted by Etrigan at 8:04 PM on November 12, 2019 [2 favorites]

Woof. Even with the wasted Daily Double, Holzhauer still treated them like they'd said something about his mom. I have no idea who the third person's gonna be in the finals, but I feel sorry for them getting in the way of Holzhauer-Boettcher II and III.

I think theres a good shot we probably wont know who it was even after the final is done.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 1:00 PM on November 13, 2019 [1 favorite]

This final is gonna be like a Rocky fight -- all huge haymakers, with Daily Doubles making all of the difference.
posted by Etrigan at 8:10 AM on November 14, 2019

Even Jeopardy! is already forgetting Francois' existence.
posted by Etrigan at 12:14 PM on November 14, 2019

James Holzhauer, Ken Jennings, and Brad Rutter will meet in the "Greatest of All Time" tournament in January on ABC.

They will play two-game "matches" (like the end of a tournament) until one player has won three matches. Winner gets $1 million.

Rutter has previously beaten Jennings in the Ultimate Tournament of Champions in 2005, the Battle of the Decades Tournament in 2014, and the All-Star Games earlier this year; Jennings sort of beat Rutter when they both got stomped by IBM's Watson computer ($77,147-$24,000-$21-600).
posted by Etrigan at 10:24 AM on November 18, 2019 [2 favorites]