Hosted by Ken Jennings and structured in the style of a Champions League, “Jeopardy! Masters” features six super champs: Matt Amodio, Buttrey, Andrew He, Holzhauer, Mattea Roach, and Schneider.
“Jeopardy! Masters” consists of 10 one-hour episodes featuring two games among different combinations of the six contestants. After each game, match points are awarded: 3 for finishing first, 1 for finishing second and 0 for finishing third. Only the top three with the highest match point total will advance to the final, resulting in a champion who will win a grand prize of $500,000.
“Our first two episodes have certainly not disappointed when it comes to excitement,” said Jennings at the outset. “We’ve had come-from-behind wins, we’ve had tied scores going into Final Jeopardy!, we’ve had tens of thousands of points added to our Masters scores via all-in, true Daily Doubles. It’s been great ‘Jeopardy!’”
Credit: Sean Black
Credit: Sean Black
Holzhauer, a domineering force best known for his 32-game “Jeopardy!” winning streak in 2019, comfortably led throughout the episode. The Double Jeopardy! round in particular ended with Holzhauer at 44,800 points followed by Buttrey with 20,600 and Schneider with 8,000.
The Final Jeopardy! clue in the category of The First Milennium:
“In 303, to celebrate 20 years of his reign, the Emperor Diocletian visited this city for the first time.”
Schneider correctly answered Rome. She wagered 1,121, raising her total to 9,121 points. Buttrey chose Constantinople yet wagered nothing, keeping his score 20,600. Holzhauer opted for Byzantium but only wagered 119, dropping slightly to 44,681. The first game of Wednesday’s match ended with Holzhauer with 3 points, Buttrey with 1 point and Schneider with 0.
During the interview segment, Schneider discussed serving on the board of an Oakland nonprofit.
“Since I’ve become a bit of a public figure, I’ve been really wanting to figure out how to get involved in more nonprofits and advocacy,” she said. “I was honored to be invited to join the board of Equality California that works to keep California the safe place for LGBTQ people that it is. That’s been really rewarding and educational.”
The leaderboard at the end of the third episode: First: Holzhauer (6); Second: Roach (6); Third: He (5); Fourth: Amodio (3); Fifth: Buttrey (2); and Sixth: Schneider (2). The ranking takes into account the number of correct responses.
“Jeopardy! Masters” returns Friday at 8 p.m. on ABC. The show will also stream on Hulu.
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