And the winner of Jeopardy Masters is...
Over the course of Jeopardy Masters, six of the highest-achieving Jeopardy players from recent history duked it out for bragging rights, cash prizes, and a donation to a charity of their choice. Going into Wednesday's final match, only James Holzhauer, Matt Amodio, and Mattea Roach remained in the competition.
Roach is the youngest player in this tournament, while Holzhauer is the most accomplished — having set multiple records for highest game winnings, the former sports gambler came in second only to Ken Jennings in 2020's Greatest of All Time tournament. Now that Jennings has moved from player to host, Holzhauer was definitely the player to beat in Jeopardy Masters.
Did either Roach or Amodio (who made his name with a 38-game winning streak in 2021) manage to dethrone Holzhauer? Wednesday's finals revealed that...
ABC/Christopher Willard James Holzhauer, Matt Amodio, and Mattea Roach on 'Jeopardy Masters.'
...they did not, although they came close. In the final round, Amodio and Roach managed to find the Daily Doubles, keeping them away from Holzhauer (whose strategy centers around finding Daily Doubles and betting everything he has on them). But Amodio guessed wrong on his, putting him in a hole he had a hard time escaping from.
Roach actually had a lead on Holzhauer going into the Final Jeopardy round of the tournament. Both of them guessed wrong on the question — whose category was "Latin in Literature" and whose answer was Le Morte d'Arthur author Thomas Malory — but Holzhauer bet a little more shrewdly, and ended up the victor with 43,795 points to Roach's 41,685.
"They tested you to the limit, but you are our first-ever Jeopardy Masters champion," Jennings told Holzhauer before handing him the Trebek Trophy, named in honor of former Jeopardy host Alex Trebek.
Holzhauer earned $500,000 and a $100,000 donation to Project 150 (which helps Las Vegas-area high school students with insecure housing), while Roach got $250,000 for second place and Amodio walked away with $150,000.
A second iteration of Jeopardy Masters is planned for next year, with guaranteed spots for Holzhauer, Roach, and Amodio.
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