We had so many strong contestants since the 32nd Tournament of Champions that we get a bonus third week of Second Chance play this season! Here is your last group of nine returnees:
Monday, December 29, 2025:
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Keegan Olson Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Original appearance: May 6, 2025  21 correct, 4 incorrect 1/1 on rebound attempts (on 8 rebound opportunities) 36.84% in first on buzzer (21/57) 0/2 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: -$14,200) 1/1 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $17,000 29.693% to advance to final In his game, Keegan had a $17,000 Coryat in a game with a combined Coryat of just $27,400. Unfortunately, Keegan also missed a pair of Daily Doubles, leading to his return here in Second Chance. |
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Abigail Arnold Waltham, Massachusetts Original appearance: April 23, 2025  25 correct, 3 incorrect 0/1 on rebound attempts (on 5 rebound opportunities) 43.86% in first on buzzer (25/57) 0/1 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: -$7,800) 0/1 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $21,800 35.474% to advance to final Abigail picked up 25 correct against Liam Starnes; unfortunately, she went for a big Daily Double early and couldn’t recover from the incorrect response. One thing to look out for as well is if Abigail will forget where DD2 was in the search for DD3; that mistake in her first game let Liam find DD3 en route to victory. |
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Mustafa Hameed Los Angeles, California Original appearance: March 24, 2025  22 correct, 1 incorrect 1/1 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: $17,200 34.833% to advance to final Mustafa probably should have ended Josh Weikert’s win streak at 1 after picking up 22 correct; however, a poor Final Jeopardy wager left him with insufficient funds to take victory after both he and Josh missed Final. Will Mustafa learn from his error, or do we have another Chris Turner-Neal? |
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Tuesday, December 30, 2025:
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Emily Johnson Honolulu, Hawai’i Original appearance: March 11, 2025  21 correct, 1 incorrect 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 3 rebound opportunities) 35.09% in first on buzzer (20/57) 1/1 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $4,000) 1/1 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $18,400 30.838% to advance to final Emily picked up over 20 correct in a game against James Corson and Harvey Silikovitz; unfortunately for Emily, the “Just Wager $4,000” strategy did not work for her as a more aggressive Daily Double wager might have seen her take victory the first time out. |
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Dondi DeMarco New York, New York Original appearance: April 15, 2025  17 correct, 3 incorrect 0/1 on rebound attempts (on 4 rebound opportunities) 29.82% in first on buzzer (17/57) 1/1 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $2,000) 0/1 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $17,600 28.261% to advance to final We saw Dondi a few weeks ago in reruns; he picked up a $17,600 Coryat and led Andrew Hayes entering Final Jeopardy; unfortunately, he was unable to seal the deal on the 61st clue. |
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Ricky Chandak Boston, Massachusetts Original appearance: July 4, 2025  21 correct, 4 incorrect 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 1 rebound opportunity) 40.35% in first on buzzer (23/57) 1/1 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $12,000) 1/1 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $14,400 40.901% to advance to final Ricky is one of the favorites to advance here, as a result of nearly ending Scott Riccardi’s run before it even began. In Scott’s second game, Ricky picked up a $12,000 True Daily Double and came very close to victory. |
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Wednesday, December 31, 2025:
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Ryan Sharpe Oakville, Ontario, Canada Original appearance: September 15, 2025  21 correct, 2 incorrect 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 0 rebound opportunities) 35.09% in first on buzzer (20/57) 2/2 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $10,400) 0/1 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $19,600 41.115% to advance to final Ryan’s return might come as an incredible surprise to anyone who has read a local newspaper’s website in Ontario over the last couple of weeks. The …Today collective of news websites in Ontario has been running an article claiming that Ryan’s journey has somehow come to an end, when it very clearly has not, as evidenced by Ryan’s return in Second Chance. Granted, coming from a newspaper collective that referred to a Pop Culture Jeopardy team losing only because their opponents made an unorthodox Final Jeopardy wager as having been “walloped”, this is apparently par for the course for them; their Jeopardy! coverage has certainly left a lot to be desired in 2025. |
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Jenna Hayes New York, New York Original appearance: December 24, 2024  20 correct, 1 incorrect 1/1 on rebound attempts (on 5 rebound opportunities) 29.82% in first on buzzer (17/57) 2/2 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $4,000) 0/1 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $16,200 28.734% to advance to final Jenna picked up 20 correct in Laura Faddah’s fourth game, unfortunately, Laura had a singleton get in Final Jeopardy to take victory #4 from a distant third. |
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Dan Puma Chicago, Illinois Original appearance: July 8, 2025  24 correct, 8 incorrect 1/3 on rebound attempts (on 4 rebound opportunities) 45.61% in first on buzzer (26/57) 2/2 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $6,400) 1/1 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $14,600 30.151% to advance to final Dan picked up 24 correct in Scott Riccardi’s fourth game, giving Scott another early strong game; will Dan be more aggressive on the Daily Doubles, though, after the margin entering Final was less than what Dan left on the table with his Daily Double bets? |
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alright didn’t make any predictions for the last round but I will for this one
Game 1: Mustafa
Game 2: Ricky
Game 3: Ryan
Overall Winner: Ricky
In my mind, this is the main event of this year’s Second Chance – i.e. the most likely field to produce at least one complete slugfest. With that in mind…
Match 1: Abigail – Between Mustafa not finding any Daily Doubles and Keegan and Abigail combining for -$22,000 on them in their initial game(s), the theme of this game is definitely Daily Double redemption. While I’m thrilled to see Keegan back after he came agonizingly close on both of his Daily Doubles, I think the stats point ever-so-slightly to Abigail… but that’s exactly why the show actually runs the games instead of awarding wins based on paper!
Match 2: Emily – How many different ways can I say “strength of schedule”? All three of these players faced incredibly strong opposition in their original game, but the reason I’m leaning towards Emily basically comes down to the fact that she put up the numbers she did against two of the strongest players in the entire eligibility cycle. If Ricky plays with the same aggressiveness that he did in his original game, though, it’s not gonna be easy for her at all!
Match 3: Ryan – I think anything more I could say about Ryan’s odds have already been said by the $19,600 Coryat and $27,600 going into Final against the second-favorite for the ToC. I’m interested to see if Dan patches up his accuracy for this event – the other big factor to his loss, in my eyes, is the fact that he negged six times in Double Jeopardy alone. If he can clean that up, though, I think he’s got a pretty decent chance!
I can’t wait for this week, it’s gonna be great!
MasterDoge! Hello!! I hope your semester ended smoothly.
Thanks for the analysis. As always it will increase my enjoyment of the week’s games.