Jeopardy! Masters continues to warmth up because the Knockout Spherical ended on Wednesday night time (Could 14) with three contestants being eradicated from the competitors.
Within the first sport of the night, final 12 months’s Masters champion Victoria Groce, Jeopardy! Invitational Event winner Matt Amodio, and 2025 Event of Champions finalist Adriana Harmeyer battled it out. The strain was on for Amodio and Harmeyer, who solely had 1 level apiece heading into Wednesday’s sport.
As ordinary, Groce obtained off to a sizzling begin, answering 14 appropriate clues within the first spherical. She additionally discovered the sport’s first Each day Double, giving her a lead with 11,400 factors after the primary spherical. Amodio stood at 4,200, whereas Harmeyer trailed with 2,200.
Groce continued her success within the Double Jeopardy spherical, even after Harmeyer discovered the second Each day Double. Groce landed on the third Each day Double and ended the spherical with a runaway of 27,200.
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Host Ken Jennings then learn out the ultimate clue: “Naturalist the Rely de Buffon mocked N. & S. American animals, like this “elephant of the brand new world…the dimensions of a really small mule.”
Everybody answered accurately with “What’s a tapir?” and together with his small wager of 601, Amodio completed in second place with 13,601, giving him one other level and permitting him to advance to the following spherical. Groce earned the three factors for successful the episode, whereas Harmeyer completed third and was eradicated from the competitors.
The stakes have been even larger within the second sport of the night time as solely the winner would advance to the quarterfinals, whereas each losers could be knocked out of the competitors. The tense episode noticed a showdown between Brad Rutter, Juveria Zaheer, and Neilesh Vinjamuri, all on the lookout for their first factors of the collection.
Rutter began sturdy within the opening spherical, answering 15 of the 30 clues accurately for a lead of 9,000. Zaheer, in the meantime, doubled up by a Each day Double to place her in second place with 4,400. Vinjamuri trailed in final place with simply 1,600.
Vinjamuri had an excuse for his poor efficiency in the course of the contestant chats with Jennings, saying, “I’m simply studying from the greats, and I’m simply attempting to be taught as a lot from them as I can. On Jeopardy! you see lots of stuff that form of like, it feels form of dated. Prefer it may very well be 80s-70s tradition.”
Jennings interrupted, jokingly telling the 2025 TOC winner, “It’s dated to you, it’s not dated…” Rutter then chimed in, saying, “Hey, man!”
“Brad’s proper right here,” Jennings quipped.
After laughing about it, Jennings admitted, “You’re proper. It’s a broad unfold of years. You’re not improper.”
As the sport continued, Vinjamuri by no means did discover his groove. Zaheer, nonetheless, stepped up her sport in Double Jeopardy, discovering each Each day Doubles to take a considerable lead. Heading into Closing Jeopardy, Zaheer led with 26,800, Rutter adopted behind with 15,800, and Vinjamuri trailed with 4,000.
The ultimate clue learn: “After he died in 1990 at age 90, his ashes have been scattered at Tanglewood, the place he taught for 25 years & the place his music was carried out.”
No person answered with the right response (“Who’s Aaron Copland?”), so all of it got here right down to wagers. Vinjamuri went all in, ending the sport on zero. Rutter, in the meantime, guess 11,001, dropping him into second place with 4,799. Zaheer wagered 6,000, giving her an episode-winning whole of 20,000 and securing 3 factors, which means she advances to the quarterfinals.
That meant Rutter, who earned 1 level for ending second, and Vinjamuri, who completed on zero, have been each eradicated from the competitors alongside Harmeyer.
Followers took to social media to react to Wednesday’s episodes, with one Reddit person writing, “Like an ageing athlete making a final stand, it’s nice to see Rutter flip again the clock and simply throw haymakers for 4 minutes.”
“In all probability the final we see of brad congrats Juveria although,” stated one other.
“I anticipated Brad and Adriana to go house. Neilesh I’m unhappy about however I’ve a sense he shall be again,” one other added.
One other wrote, “I’m completely happy juveria lastly had a efficiency harking back to her scc and cwc performances particularly at such an opportune time. i do know she’s been competing towards tougher contestants ever because the toc however immediately she positively carried out very effectively. trying ahead to seeing what she will do subsequent week.”
“If Brad was going to lose tonight, I had hoped that he would with a dignified sturdy efficiency, which I can fortunately say he delivered on. Undecided if we’ll see him in JIT or not, however it will be a very good “remaining alternative” to see him attempt to win one final event or to at the very least surpass that $5 million mark,” stated one fan.
“Juveria is a worthy champion, and clearly a fan favourite, however I used to be pulling for Brad. Will probably be attention-grabbing what the stats say, nevertheless it appeared wish to me he outplayed his opponents. Simply couldn’t land a DD. Would like to see him again, nevertheless it looks like this was his swan track,” added one commenter.
Beneath is how the league desk is trying up to now. As you’ll be able to see, Yogesh Raut stays the clear chief with 6 factors, whereas Groce and Roger Craig take up the second and third spots, every with 4 factors. Zaheer and Isaac Hirsch are within the fourth and fifth spots with 3 factors apiece, whereas Amodio is in sixth with 2 factors.
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The quarterfinals kick off subsequent week (on Tuesdays and Wednesdays) and have the identical format and level construction because the Knockout Spherical. The 4 highest-ranked gamers transfer on to the semifinals, whereas the 2 lowest-ranked gamers are eradicated.
Beneath are the primary two quarterfinal match-ups.
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What did you consider Wednesday’s episodes? Did your favorites make it by? Tell us your ideas within the feedback beneath.
Jeopardy! Masters, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 9/8c, ABC, subsequent day on Hulu