It’s playoff time! The final road to the 33rd Tournament of Champions begins tomorrow with our first week of Second Chance. Which of these nine players will make their way through the week and end up at Champions Wildcard, beginning January 5?
As always, predictions have been done by the Unified Prediction Model.
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Monday, December 15, 2025:
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Erik Nielsen Hollywood, California Original appearance: September 25, 2025  18 correct, 4 incorrect 2/3 on rebound attempts (on 7 rebound opportunities) 29.82% in first on buzzer (17/57) 1/1 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $2,300) 0/1 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $12,000 34.175% to advance to final 10.808% to win Second Chance Erik got “The Call” on very short notice and fought valiantly against 4-time champion Steven Olson and Champions Wildcard participant Vickie Talvola. |
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Erin Li New York, New York Original appearance: April 7, 2025  19 correct, 2 incorrect 1/1 on rebound attempts (on 4 rebound opportunities) 31.58% in first on buzzer (18/57) 1/1 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $3,000) 0/1 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $14,000 36.228% to advance to final 12.069% to win Second Chance In Mike Dawson’s second victory, Erin made a big Final Jeopardy bet when she might have been better off going for a small one—even moreso after Final ended up being a Triple Stumper. |
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Eugene Huang Paramus, New Jersey Original appearance: March 25, 2025  20 correct, 2 incorrect 4/4 on rebound attempts (on 6 rebound opportunities) 28.07% in first on buzzer (16/57) 0/2 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: -$5,000) 1/1 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $15,600 29.597% to advance to final 7.821% to win Second Chance In Josh Weikert’s third game, Eugene missed a pair of Daily Doubles; his 20 correct responses, though, saw him through to Second Chance. |
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Tuesday, December 16, 2025:
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Dave Widmayer Portland, Oregon Original appearance: April 10, 2025  23 correct, 6 incorrect 3/4 on rebound attempts (on 8 rebound opportunities) 38.60% in first on buzzer (22/57) 2/2 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $5,200) 0/1 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $17,000 37.409% to advance to final 14.316% to win Second Chance Dave was leading ToCer Andrew Hayes entering Final Jeopardy, but a singleton get from Andrew ended Dave’s chances of victory. A $17,000 Coryat, though, makes Dave the overall favorite to take victory in Week 1. |
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Evan Argyle Salt Lake City, Utah Original appearance: October 14, 2025  25 correct, 5 incorrect 3/4 on rebound attempts (on 7 rebound opportunities) 42.11% in first on buzzer (24/57) 1/1 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $3,000) 0/1 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $15,600 32.314% to advance to final 11.002% to win Second Chance Evan was a Final Jeopardy away from victory back in October; his 25 correct means he’s back for Second Chance. |
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Ivanna Lopez Tampa, Florida Original appearance: July 16, 2025  19 correct, 3 incorrect 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 3 rebound opportunities) 36.84% in first on buzzer (21/57) 0/0 on Daily Doubles 0/1 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $13,800 30.277% to advance to final 10.158% to win Second Chance Ivanna Lopez put up a strong performance in Scott Riccardi’s 10th game in order to garner a Second Chance invitation. |
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Wednesday, December 17, 2025:
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Pete Johnston Alma, Michigan Original appearance: July 15, 2025  21 correct, 2 incorrect 1/2 on rebound attempts (on 2 rebound opportunities) 35.09% in first on buzzer (20/57) 0/0 on Daily Doubles 1/1 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $15,600 37.145% to advance to final 13.849% to win Second Chance The day before Ivanna, Pete got past the 20-correct mark against Scott Riccardi and forced a correct answer from Scott in Final in order to pick up win #9. |
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Allison Willard Weddington, North Carolina Original appearance: March 31, 2025  19 correct, 6 incorrect 3/3 on rebound attempts (on 4 rebound opportunities) 35.09% in first on buzzer (20/57) 1/1 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $2,000) 0/1 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $11,000 29.288% to advance to final 8.764% to win Second Chance Allison picked up a five-figure Coryat against a pair of ToCers in Bryce Wargin & Josh Weikert. |
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Chris Turner-Neal New Orleans, Louisiana Original appearance: October 8, 2025  23 correct, 4 incorrect 3/3 on rebound attempts (on 8 rebound opportunities) 38.60% in first on buzzer (22/57) 0/1 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: -$1,500) 1/1 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $14,200 33.567% to advance to final 11.213% to win Second Chance Chris had one of the biggest heartbreaks of early Season 42; he was correct in Final, when leading—but he didn’t make the cover bet in Final, leading to TJ Fisher picking up win #5. It’s always interesting to see what the lack of a cover bet will do to a player in Second Chance. |
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I think on Tuesday, you mean “a singleton get from Andrew…”
That is correct; the correction has been made.
To quote the OK Go song that Paolo Pasco wanted to recreate the music video of with his winnings, here it goes again… (the postseason and my predictions, that is!)
Match 1: Erik – Erik is an incredibly unique case in terms of Jeopardy players who didn’t lose to superchamps in that we know for a fact that what we saw in his original game isn’t what he’s capable of; to have hung in there against two very tough players despite being called on really short notice and really low sleep (as Steven Olson described over Discord when his loss aired) is INCREDIBLY impressive. If he’s able to get in more preparation – and more sleep – than he got between when he got The Call and when he taped his original game, I could pretty easily see him winning out the week!
Match 2: Dave – Despite Evan having the best correct/buzzer numbers of anyone this week and despite Ivanna’s statistics definitely not being an accurate portrayal of her skill (because, well, Scott Riccardi), Dave’s incredibly strong play against an equally strong ToCer makes me feel quite confident in his chances. This is also a very rare case of a contestant’s background playing into how they’ll do, and the fact that Dave hosts trivia for a living will also probably be good for him.
Match 3: Pete – I don’t know how much I need to say in this segment, but I’ll try anyway – the way Pete played is exactly how the game needs to be played to take down a superchampion and he was just unlucky to not have any luck with the betting clues. If he finds the Daily Doubles this time around, I have a feeling Allison’s and Chris’ (who I’m guessing will be a fan-favorite) jobs are going to be made that much harder.
Let the games begin! And maybe I’ll have more insightful thoughts for Weeks 2 and 3 when I’m not swamped with college finals 🙂
Alright here are my predictions
Game 1: Eugene
Game 2: Dave
Game 3: Pete
finals winner: Dave
Just missed seeing Erik play, but did meet his wife and what a great lady! So, go Erik!