“Jeopardy!” has a new “Master.”
During Wednesday’s finale of the 2024 “Jeopardy!” Masters tournament, Victoria Groce walked away with the win.
She beat James Holzhauer, last year’s “Jeopardy!” Master, and Yogesh Raut to claim the $500,000 grand prize and Trebek Trophy.
Here’s a recap of the tournament finale.
‘Jeopardy!’ Masters tournament finals recap
Game 1 recap
It didn’t take long for host Ken Jennings to unveil a fun surprise during Wednesday night’s first game — recently retired NFL player Jason Kelce would be a guest reader of the clues in one of the Jeopardy! round categories, “The world revolves around Jason Kelce.”
The questions weren’t about the Kelce family, but instead, were pretty typical questions about things like history and music that related to some part of Jason Kelce’s life.
Holzhauer had an early setback in the game when he missed a Daily Double, and he ended the Jeopardy! round in third place.
- Groce had 4,600 points; Raut had 4,400; and Holzhauer had 3,600.
The game was still very much up for grabs headed into the Double Jeopardy! round.
As in the Jeopardy! round, Groce answered the first question of the Double Jeopardy! round correctly.
After one correct answer from Holzhauer, Groce got on a hot streak, which included a true Daily Double that brought her score to 20,400.
But Holzhauer quickly got within striking distance with his own true Daily Double. He mimed pushing all his chips in when Jennings asked him how much he’d like to wager.
Holzhauer tied Groce and then moved ahead of her within the next few clues. The pair were well ahead of Raut by the end of the round.
- Holzhauer had 27,200 points; Groce had 25,200; and Raut had 9,600.
The Final Jeopardy category was “Politicians.” Here’s the clue: “This man was the first to be governor of one state and then senator from another. 173 years later, Mitt Romney became the second.”
Raut and Holzhauer answered correctly — Who is Sam Houston? — but Holzhauer didn’t wager enough to take a dominant league.
At the end of the first game, Holzhauer had 28,309 points; Groce had 21,400; and Raut, who bet it all on Final Jeopardy, had 19,200.
Game 2 recap
Raut got the Daily Double early in the Jeopardy! round of the second game. He bet all but 1 point and nearly doubled his points.
He continued to do well throughout the round and so did Groce. They each ended the round with about twice as many points as Holzhauer.
- Raut had 5,799 points; Groce had 5,600; and Holzhauer had 2,800 at the end of the second game’s Jeopardy! round.
During the Double Jeopardy! round, Groce found both Daily Doubles. On the first, she doubled her score; on the second, she bet only 800 points.
As you might have guessed, Groce was well ahead going into Final Jeopardy.
- She had 34,000 points; Raut had 15,799; and Holzhauer had 8,800.
The Final Jeopardy category was “American Women.” Here’s the clue: “The New York Times wrote of this woman who had died in 1951, ‘Though she was forgotten at the time, part of her remained alive.’”
All three competitors answered correctly — Who is Henrietta Lacks? — but Holzhauer and Raut didn’t have enough points to work with to catch Groce.
- Holzhauer ended with 9,708 points in the second game for a total of 38,017. He got third place in the “Jeopardy!” Masters finals.
- Raut ended with 10,911 in the second game for a total of 45,910 points. He got second place.
- Groce didn’t wager anything on Final Jeopardy, so she ended with 34,000 points in the second game, despite answering the final question correctly. She secured the “Jeopardy!” Master title and Trebek Trophy with 55,400 total points in the finale.
How the 2024 ‘Jeopardy!’ Masters tournament worked
The ‘Jeopardy!’ Masters tournament was comprised of 18 total games.
Twelve games were part of the quarterfinals round and featured all six people invited to compete in the tournament.
Four games were part of the semifinals round. The top four competitors from the quarterfinals moved on to these games.
Wednesday’s finale featured the top three competitors from the semifinals round. They squared off in two separate, 30-minute “Jeopardy!” games.
In the quarterfinals and semifinals, players received points based on their performance in each game and the points then determined whether they advanced to the next round, according to the “Jeopardy!” website.
But in the finals, the winner was “determined by traditional dollar value scores: a two-game ‘total-point affair’ as in other Jeopardy! tournament finals,” the website explains.