We now know who the 59 players are who have a chance to win the 2026 Tournament of Champions, as the show unveiled today on Inside Jeopardy!.
These 59 players have been placed into three separate events: the first 27, all non-winners, have been placed into three weeks of Second Chance, with each week’s winner moving to Champions Wildcard. They will be joined at that point by 12 more players in a 15-player Champions Wildcard tournament, whose winner will gain the last spot in the 21-player Tournament of Champions, beginning January 19, 2026.
Here are the 59 players:
Tournament Of Champions:
- Scott Riccardi, Somerville, NJ (16 wins, $455,000)
- Laura Faddah, Memphis, TN (8 wins, $92,599)
- Paolo Pasco, San Diego, CA (7 wins, $195,717)
- Andrew Hayes, Tupelo, MS (6 wins, $137,804)
- Liam Starnes, Barrington, IL (6 wins, $123,584)
- Josh Weikert, Collegeville, PA (6 wins, $100,202)
- Ben Ganger, Goshen, IN (5 wins, $105,915)
- TJ Fisher, San Francisco, CA (5 wins, $100,723)
- Lisa Ann Walter, Washington, DC (Season 2 Celebrity Jeopardy! winner)
- W. Kamau Bell, Chicago, IL (Season 3 Celebrity Jeopardy! winner)
- Alex DeFrank, Brooklyn, NY (4 wins, $102,400)
- Allegra Kuney, New Brunswick, NJ (4 wins, $92,600)
- Steven Olson, Princeton, IL (4 wins, $74,382)
- Bryce Wargin, Kansas City, MO (4 wins, $70,199)
- Ashley Chan, Lewisville, TX (4 wins, $67,400)
- Matt Massie, South Charleston, WV (3 wins, $79,800)
- Tom Devlin, Washington, DC (3 wins, $73,199)
- Brendan Liaw, Vancouver, BC (3 wins, $59,398)
- Mike Dawson, Portland, OR (3 wins, $57,000)
- Aaron Levine, Seattle, WA (3 wins, $48,999)
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Are you going on the show and looking for information about how to bet in Final Jeopardy? Check out my Betting Strategy 101 page. If you want to learn how to bet in two-day finals, check out Betting Strategy 102. In case the show uses a tournament with wild cards in the future, there is also a strategy page for betting in tournament quarterfinals.
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Champions Wildcard:
- Bill McKinney, Boston, MA (3 wins, $46,800)
- Geoff Barnes, Washington, DC (3 wins, $44,801)
- James Corson, Frederick, MD (2 wins, $70,800)
- Jonathan Hugendubler, Baltimore, MD (2 wins, $63,601)
- Dave Bond, West Henriette, NY (2 wins, $51,400)
- Jason Singer, Portland, ME (2 wins, $48,801)
- Dargan Ware, Bessemer, AL (2 wins, $47,801)
- Stella Trout, Houston, TX (1 win, $28,800)
- Vickie Talvola, Jersey City, NJ (1 win, $26,407)
- Cameron Berry, Brighton, MA (1 win, $24,600)
- Harvey Silikovitz, West Orange, NJ (1 win, $23,600)
- Ian Morrison, Aurora, CO (1 win, $22,009)
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Second Chance:
Week 1:
- Eugene Huang, Paramus, NJ (March 25, 2025)
- Allison Willard, Weddington, NC (March 31, 2025)
- Erin Li, Queens, NY (April 7, 2025)
- Dave Widmayer, Portland, Oregon (April 10, 2025)
- Pete Johnston, Lansing, MI (July 15, 2025)
- Ivanna Lopez, Tampa, FL (July 16, 2025)
- Erik Nielsen, Hollywood, CA (September 25, 2025)
- Chris Turner-Neal, New Orleans, LA (October 8, 2025)
- Evan Argyle, Salt Lake City, UT (October 14, 2025)
Week 2:
- Jasmine Zhou, Woodland, CA (December 17, 2024)
- Melanie Hirsch, Silver Spring, MD (March 26, 2025)
- Guy Branum, West Hollywood, CA (April 4, 2025)
- Rachael Gray, Cuyahoga Falls, OH (April 18, 2025)
- Bob Callen, Lexington, KY (April 21, 2025)
- Michelle Tsai, Honolulu, HI (May 7, 2025)
- Andrew Wang, Winnetka, IL (July 11, 2025)
- Aaron Himmel, Long Island, NY (November 4, 2025)
- Molly Murray, New York, NY (November 6, 2025)
Week 3:
- Jenna Hayes, New York, NY (December 24, 2024)
- Emily Johnson, Savannah, GA (March 11, 2025)
- Mustafa Hameed, Los Angeles, CA (March 24, 2025)
- Dondi DiMarco, New York, NY (April 15, 2025)
- Abigail Arnold, Waltham, MA (April 23, 2025)
- Keegan Olson, Vancouver, BC (May 6, 2025)
- Ricky Chandak, Boston, MA (July 4, 2025)
- Dan Puma, Chicago, IL (July 8, 2025)
- Ryan Sharpe, Oakville, ON (September 15, 2025)
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For Second Chance, I’m saying Mathieu Dionne got hosed. He was leading Laura Faddah entering Final Jeopardy and the FJ was about Laura’s hometown. I am shocked they didn’t give him a second chance.