Jeopardy!: The Second Chance Tournament

October 17, 2022 11:59 AM - Season 39, Episode 26

Eighteen contestants who didn't quite win but who caught the producers' eyes get a second opportunity to achieve their dreams. Nine face off, the three winners go to a two-game playoff, and the winner of each week goes to the Tournament of Champions.

This is one of the first major changes made by new Executive Producer Michael Davies, but will the two winners just be caught in the Amy-Matt-Mattea crossfire?

posted by Etrigan (6 comments total)

As a hopeful prospective contestant who has taken the contestant search test many times and made it through various stages of the screening process but never been selected to be on the show, I have to say I get a little annoyed by many of the "let's bring back contestants we've already had on instead of giving new people a chance" events in recent years.

Tournament of Champions? Fine, that's a thing they've been doing for ages.. But "Second Chance Tournament"? grumble mutter mutter..
posted by Nerd of the North at 7:33 PM on October 17, 2022 [1 favorite]

Keep trying NotN! Biggest thing I can tell you is - once you get past all of the %age correct and can you play the game bits - they look for personality. So be an interesting NotN - just not tooooo interesting.

Having said that I did pitch them after I lost on a "One Day Champions Tournament". It didn't take. Boo.
posted by drewbage1847 at 8:50 PM on October 17, 2022

Is it just me, or did the way they explained the bracket make it look like the final would be between just two contestants? Or, hmm, reading above again, is there a third that they didn't mention? Not a big deal, but I did a confused-doggy take.

I liked the late domination by, uh, The Winner. Sleeper.
posted by rhizome at 10:27 PM on October 17, 2022

Is it just me, or did the way they explained the bracket make it look like the final would be between just two contestants? Or, hmm, reading above again, is there a third that they didn't mention?

If it helps, think of it as two separate tournaments. This week, the winners of Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday will come back for a two-day total-points playoff on Thursday and Friday. The winner of that two-day playoff goes to the Tournament of Champions.

Then, next week, they do it again with nine new people. The winners of next Monday, next Tuesday, and next Wednesday will come back for a two-day total-points playoff next Thursday and next Friday. The winner of that two-day playoff also goes to the Tournament of Champions.
posted by Etrigan at 7:00 AM on October 18, 2022

Well, the first week definitely provided some thrills. The leader of the first day blew the first Daily Double of DJ on the second day, and it turned out to be a lock game that the winner did not realize was a lock game, and if they’d missed FJ, would have lost the tourney.
posted by Etrigan at 3:59 AM on October 22, 2022

I have never seen two people as thoroughly beaten down as early in an episode as in the first night of the second week final. Rowan Ward's "Yay, I'm so glad to be here!" style is far, far scarier than Holzhauer's swing-for-the-fences style or Matt Amodio's flat "What is... What is... What is..." style. They have whetted their perkiness to absolutely soul-crushing sharpness.
posted by Etrigan at 11:53 AM on October 28, 2022