Jeopardy! has featured so many memorable champions over the years, from mega-stars like James Holzhauer and current permanent host Ken Jennings to brainiacs with far shorter reigns as winners. Which makes it understandable why the beloved game show and its executive producers are so eager to bring familiar faces back into the spotlight for different gimmicks and tournaments. Now, fans can look forward to the first-ever Jeopardy! Invitational tourney, which will pull heavily from the past two decades of winners, with a true legend also in the mix, as well as my all-time favorite contestant.
A tournament like this presumably required Jeopardy!’s creatives to come up with a dream list of hopeful returnees, which was whittled down to 27 of the greatest to ever hold a buzzer, albeit with a few Masters missing from the lineup. Let’s break things down into three sets of nine trivia geniuses each.
- Brandon Blackwell (semifinalist 2008 Teen Tournament)
- Colby Burnett (winner 2012 Teachers Tournament, winner 2013 Tournament of Champions, semifinalist Battle of the Decades, second-runner up All-Star Games)
- Sam Buttrey (winner 2021 Professors Tournament, second runner-up 2022 Tournament of Champions, competitor 2023 Jeopardy! Masters)
- Lilly Chin (winner 2017 College Championship, semifinalist 2017 Tournament of Champions)
- Arthur Chu (Season 30 11-game champion, first runner-up 2014 Tournament of Champions)
- Leonard Cooper (winner 2013 Teen Tournament, competitor All-Star Games)
- Celeste DiNucci (Season 22 5-game champion, winner 2007 Tournament of Champions winner, competitor Battle of the Decades)
- Chuck Forrest (Season 2 5-game champion, winner 1986 Tournament of Champions, quarterfinalist Super Jeopardy!, semifinalist Million Dollar Masters tournament, finisher Ultimate Tournament of Champions Nifty Nine and Battle of the Decades)
- Dhruv Gaur (winner 2018 College Championship, semifinalist 2019 Tournament of Champions)
There are some absolute all-star ringers in that first batch of former champs, from recent regulars such as Masters competitor Professor Sam "Bring It" Buttrey and the 2018 College Champ Dhruv Gaur, as well as board-conquering talents from years prior like the ever-vocal Arthur Chu and teen tournament vets Brandon Blackwell and Leonard Cooper.
But arguably the biggest firework in the bunch is the return of Chuck Forrest, who made headlines as a Jeopardy! mastermind years before it was trendy, and was arguably the game's GOAT before Ken Jennings actually earned the title. It was Forrest whose name shows up in the "Forrest Bounce," the game-board strategy that James Holzhauer used to successfully to keep competitors guessing, while also leading to a better chance of finding Daily Doubles.
- Victoria Groce (Season 22 one-game champion)
- Andrew He (Season 38 five-game champion, first runner-up 2022 Tournament of Champions, fourth-place finisher 2023 Jeopardy! Masters)
- Ben Ingram (Season 29 8-game champion, winner 2014 Tournament of Champions, competitor All-Star Games)
- Matt Jackson (Season 32 13-game champion, first runner-up 2015 Tournament of Champions, first runner-up All-Star Games)
- Alex Jacob (Season 31 6-game champion, winner 2015 Tournament of Champions, competitor All-Star Games competitor)
- Mackenzie Jones (Season 36 8-game champion, quarterfinalist 2021 Tournament of Champions)
- Sam Kavanaugh (Season 35 5-game champion, winner 2021 Tournament of Champions)
- Larissa Kelly (Season 24 6-game champion, first runner-up 2009 Tournament of Champions, competitor Battle of the Decades, winner All-Star Games)
- Alan Lin (Season 33 6-game champion, first runner-up 2017 Tournament of Champions, second runner-up 2019 All-Star Games)
It's worth noting that both Brandon Blackwell and Victoria Groce both also found a bit of trivia-based success on ABC's The Chase, where both Jeopardy! vets are currently in the pool of chasers along with the aforementioned Holzhauer, Brad Rutter, and Buzzy Cohen.
The lineup of champs above features a slew of All-Star Games competitors, from Alex Jacob to Matt Jackson to Ben Ingram to Alan Lin, as well as winner Larissa Kelly. Not that other big winners like Sam Kavanaugh, Mackenzie Jones or Masters vet Andrew He can be ignored here. (He famously got parenting advice from James Holzhauer after having to temporarily exit the Masters tourney due to his partner going into labor.)
- David Madden (Season 21/22 19-game champion, semifinalist 2006 Tournament of Champions, winner All-Star Games)
- Pam Mueller (winner 2000 College Championship, semifinalist 2001 Tournament of Champions, finalist 2005 Ultimate Tournament of Champions Sweet Six, semifinalist Battle of the Decades, second runner-up All-Star Games)
- Terry O’Shea (winner 2014 College Championship winner, semifinalist 2014 Tournament of Champions)
- Dan Pawson (Season 24 9-game champion, winner 2009 Tournament of Champions, quarterfinalist Battle of the Decades)
- Jennifer Quail (Season 36 8-game champion, first runner-up 2021 Tournament of Champions)
- Austin Rogers (Season 34 12-game champion, second runner-up 2017 Tournament of Champions, competitor All-Star Games)
- Amy Schneider (Season 38 40-game champion, winner 2022 Tournament of Champions, fifth-place finisher Jeopardy! Masters)
- Monica Thieu (winner 2012 College Championship, quarterfinalist 2013 Tournament of Champions, first runner-up All-Star Games)
- Jason Zuffranieri (Season 35/36 19-game champion, semifinalist 2021 Tournament of Champions)
Rounding out the 27 smarty-pants bringing their talents back to the Jeopardy! stage are another nine trivia experts, including my all-time favorite winner, the gloriously offbeat New York bartender Austin Rogers. (Do I have a T-shirt with his face on it? No...t on me right now, but in my closet.) I'm hoping he fares better here than he did in the 2017 ToC or the All-Star Games, but since that would require all of these other wonderful people losing, it's a hard request to make.
Because also joining the Invitational is one of the most prolific winners in the show's history, Amy Schneider, who rocked out across 40 regular season games before kicking even more ass in the Tournament of Champions and in Masters. Will she have what it takes to beat 2021 standouts Jazon Zuffanieri or Jennifer Quail? Can she top some of the Aughts' most memorable champions in David Madden, Pam Mueller or Dan Pawson?
Or will Terry O'Shea and Monica Thieu rise up to square off in the Invitational finals, just because I hadn't talked about them yet? I can't wait to see how it all goes, and I'm hoping for as introduction segment coordination between the contestants as can be.
The most recent seasons of the game show expanded the Second Chances concept, first in the Tournament of Champions and then in the regular daily games for Season 40, which was a decision affected by the strikes. The Invitations seems like the best-case scenario that wouldn't require further inaugural tournaments in the near future. But I wouldn't be surprised if a Redemption Tournament was introduced that brought back memorable contestants who never won a game.
Jeopardy! airs daily in syndication, so check your local listings to see when and where it's airing in your area, with the new tourney kicking off the day after the conclusion of the ongoing Tournament of Champions, so either on Thursday, March 14, or Wednesday, March 20.
