The winner of the 2022 Tournament of Champions is among the super champs vying for trivia glory: reigning “Masters” winner James Holzhauer; Season 1 “Masters” finalists Matt Amodio and Mattea Roach; 2024 Tournament of Champions winner Yogesh Raut; and 2024 Invitational Tournament winner Victoria Groce. Schneider, the runner-up in the Invitational Tournament, was specifically chosen as a Producers Pick.
Over the course of three weeks, nine one-hour episodes will feature two games among different combinations of the contestants, resulting in a champion who will win a $500,000 grand prize and the “Jeopardy! Masters” title.
Monday’s episode featured Schneider against Raut, a cognitive and behavioral scientist from Vancouver, Washington, and Groce, a writer and television personality from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
During the first question in the Jeopardy! round, Schneider immediately dropped to negative points after mistaking the flag of Mozambique for Angola. She didn’t recover until the very end of the round, rising to 600 points. Groce, a powerhouse throughout, led the pack with 12,400 followed by Raut with 5,000.
At the opening of Double Jeopardy! a much-needed surge of momentum bolstered Schneider’s efforts when she found the Daily Double. The clue in the category World Cities:
“Each with a metropolitan region of more than 22 million people, they’re the two largest cities in Latin America.”
Wagering 2,000 points, she correctly responded San Paolo and Mexico City, bringing her total to 2,600. She finished the round with 10,200 followed by Raut with 11,800 and Groce with 41,000.
The Final Jeopardy! clue in the category 20th Century Writers:
“Becoming a British subject in 1927, he described himself as a classicist in literature, royalist in politics and Anglo-Catholic in religion.”
Schneider correctly responded T.S. Eliot, wagered 1,601, rising to 11,801. Raut also responded correctly, wagered 8,601, finishing with 20,401. Groce, wagering 9,000, incorrectly responded Tolkien, dropping to 32,000.
The leaderboard at the end of the second episode: First: Groce (6); Second: Holzhauer (4); Third: Raut (4); Fourth: Amodio: (1); Fifth: Roach: (1); and Sixth: Schneider (0). The ranking takes into account the number of correct responses.
“Jeopardy! Masters” returns Wednesday at 8 p.m. on ABC. The show also streams on Hulu.
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