Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions alternates - who were they

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Re: Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions alternates - who were they

Post by finishemzoe »

brick wrote: Wed Apr 28, 2021 7:09 pm 1991 was NOT Seth Davis, for what that's worth.
I believe Seth's run was in the '92 season.
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Re: Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions alternates - who were they

Post by brick »

finishemzoe wrote: Wed Apr 28, 2021 10:47 pm
brick wrote: Wed Apr 28, 2021 7:09 pm 1991 was NOT Seth Davis, for what that's worth.
I believe Seth's run was in the '92 season.
And he wasn’t an alternate then either. He was never an alternate is what I am attempting to communicate. I apologize for confusing the calendar year of his appearance with the television season.
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Re: Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions alternates - who were they

Post by finishemzoe »

brick wrote: Wed Apr 28, 2021 11:31 pm
finishemzoe wrote: Wed Apr 28, 2021 10:47 pm
brick wrote: Wed Apr 28, 2021 7:09 pm 1991 was NOT Seth Davis, for what that's worth.
I believe Seth's run was in the '92 season.
And he wasn’t an alternate then either. He was never an alternate is what I am attempting to communicate. I apologize for confusing the calendar year of his appearance with the television season.
Yes I know it was Josh Vincent for 1992, but I am kinda confused about your mentions of Seth Davis, because I don't think anyone on the board has said that.
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Re: Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions alternates - who were they

Post by brick »

finishemzoe wrote: Wed Apr 28, 2021 11:58 pm
brick wrote: Wed Apr 28, 2021 11:31 pm
finishemzoe wrote: Wed Apr 28, 2021 10:47 pm
brick wrote: Wed Apr 28, 2021 7:09 pm 1991 was NOT Seth Davis, for what that's worth.
I believe Seth's run was in the '92 season.
And he wasn’t an alternate then either. He was never an alternate is what I am attempting to communicate. I apologize for confusing the calendar year of his appearance with the television season.
Yes I know it was Josh Vincent for 1992, but I am kinda confused about your mentions of Seth Davis, because I don't think anyone on the board has said that.
'
I was looking at the lists on the first page of this thread and saw that there was a gap in '91. I remembered that Seth was on in '91 (though not that his games were in the '92 season) so when I had occasion to message with him on a different topic I asked him, and shared his answer here, thinking that rule outs of likely suspects might be useful.
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Re: Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions alternates - who were they

Post by seaborgium »

finishemzoe wrote: Mon Apr 26, 2021 2:46 pm going to see if I can find Rob Lai's 3-day total, and then report back if I find something.
I was just reviewing season 2 in J! Archive, and I don't think Rob won three games. His first game is a Tuesday (September 24, 1985); had he been a three-time champion, his last game would have been Friday the 27th, but that game is archived, with Dane Garrett and Diane Cope (spelling not confirmed) as co-champs. Working backward from this: Dane was in the champ's position, and his total was higher than Diane's, so it must be his third game. (It can't be more than that, or he'd have been in the Tuesday game!) Dane is known to have been in two tie games, so Wednesday the 25th, Dane must have come on against Rob, won in a tie (with Rob, I presume), then tied Diane in the Thursday game. Rob, therefore, is at best a two-time champion.
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Re: Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions alternates - who were they

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Steven Grade informed me about the conditions in determining this TOC's alternates on Reddit. Turns out there were two alternates this time, probably because of pandemic conditions. So with all the info I've gathered, and mathematically run off of since the beginning of the show's inception, the alternates and/or #16 seeds from 1985 to the present were likely the following, with unconfirmed selections having an asterisk (*) and also pre-doubled dollar players with doubled amounts in parentheses:

1985 - Richard Landon* (4x) - $31,400 ($62,800)
1986 - Dan Alves* (3x) - $36,100 ($72,200)
1987 - Jim Ryan* (4x) - $30,250 ($60,500)
1988 - Michael Shutterly (4x) - $49,200 ($98,400)
1989 - Jack Lechner (4x) - $33,300 ($66,600)
1990 - Paula Massengale (4x) - $50,901 ($101,802)
1991 - David Epstein* (4x) - $46,101 ($92,202)
1992 - Josh Vincent (4x) - $58,800 ($117,600)
1993 - Steve Saum (3x) - $35,001 ($70,002)
1994 - Bob Majeska* (4x) - $33,300 ($66,600)
1995 - Richard Rasmussen (3x) - $40,600 ($81,200)
1996 - Gareth Jones (4x) - $27,796 ($55,592)
1998 - Bob Willoughby (3x) - $36,001 ($72,002)
1999 - Louis Cohen (3x) - $48,203 ($96,406)
2000 - Jason Karpf (4x) - $46,499 ($92,998)
2001 - Mark Dawson (5x) - $52,599 ($105,198), Alan Bailey (5x) - $61,501 ($123,002); both played in 2003
2003 - Faith Love (4x) - $40,801
2004 - Patrick Macaraeg (3x) - $83,002
2006 - Bud Humphrey (3x) - $56,599
2007 - Julie Dunlevy (3x) - $73,800
2009 - Meredith Robbins (4x) - $48,700
2010 - Kevin Joyce (3x) - $111,299
2011 - Sara Heard (4x) - $85,601
2013 - Patrick Morrison (3x) - $80,701
2014 - Mike Lewis (4x) - $102,800
2015 - Sean Anderson (3x) - $71,600
2017 - Tim Kutz (4x) - $107,000
2019 - Ryan Bilger (4x) - $107,049; played in 2021
2021 - Elise Nussbaum (3x) - $79,600, Jessica Babbitt (3x) - $71,598
Last edited by finishemzoe on Sun Sep 17, 2023 6:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions alternates - who were they

Post by finishemzoe »

finishemzoe wrote: Fri May 14, 2021 10:54 pm Steven Grade informed me about the conditions in determining this TOC's alternates on Reddit. Turns out there were two alternates this time, probably because of pandemic conditions. So with all the info I've gathered, and mathematically run off of since the beginning of the show's inception, the alternates and/or #16 seeds from 1985 to the present were likely the following, with unconfirmed selections having an asterisk (*) and also pre-doubled dollar players with doubled amounts in parentheses:

1985 - Richard Landon* (4x) - $31,400 ($62,800)
1986 - Dan Alves* (3x) - $36,100 ($72,200)
1987 - Jim Ryan* (4x) - $30,250 ($60,500)
1988 - Michael Shutterly (4x) - $49,200 ($98,400)
1989 - Jack Lechner (4x) - $33,300 ($66,600)
1990 - Paula Massengale (4x) - $50,901 ($101,802)
1991 - Frank Epstein* (4x) - $46,101 ($92,202)
1992 - Josh Vincent (4x) - $58,800 ($117,600)
1993 - Steve Saum (3x) - $35,001 ($70,002)
1994 - Bob Majeska* (4x) - $33,300 ($66,600)
1995 - Richard Rasmussen (3x) - $40,600 ($81,200)
1996 - Gareth Jones (4x) - $27,796 ($55,592)
1998 - Bob Willoughby (3x) - $36,001 ($72,002)
1999 - Louis Cohen (3x) - $48,203 ($96,406)
2000 - Jason Karpf (4x) - $46,499 ($92,998)
2001 - Mark Dawson (5x) - $52,599 ($105,198), Alan Bailey (5x) - $61,501 ($123,002); both played in 2003
2003 - Faith Love (4x) - $40,801
2004 - Patrick Macaraeg (3x) - $83,002
2006 - Bud Humphrey (3x) - $56,599
2007 - Julie Dunlevy (3x) - $73,800
2009 - Meredith Robbins (4x) - $48,700
2010 - Kevin Joyce (3x) - $111,299
2011 - Sara Heard (4x) - $85,601
2013 - Patrick Morrison (3x) - $80,701
2014 - Mike Lewis (4x) - $102,800
2015 - Sean Anderson (3x) - $71,600
2017 - Tim Kutz (4x) - $107,000
2019 - Ryan Bilger (4x) - $107,049; played in 2021
2021 - Elise Nussbaum (3x) - $79,600, Jessica Babbitt (3x) - $71,598
Just to kind of follow up on this, Kate Waits and Leah Greenwald of the 1988 ToC class both participated in a Jeopardy! women AMA on the subreddit, and both informed me that they don't remember an alternate from that year. Michael Shutterly himself confirmed that he wasn't invited, nor did he know when it was happening, and doing the math of all the available games from that season, he would be the most sensible player to be the presumed and hypothetical alternate for that year.

I've personally contacted Jack Lechner on his LinkedIn page, and he confirmed to me that he was the alternate for the 1989 ToC and that he was on stand-by because the producers weren't sure that one of the 15 players there would be able to make it. That player did end up showing up, however. With all this in mind, it might be reasonable to assume that the producers didn't start including alternate options until 1989, given that situation.

As far as I know, everyone from 1992 onward is confirmed, except for Bob Majeska, though it's reasonable to assume it's him.

Citation for 1991 ToC: https://groups.google.com/g/alt.tv.game ... Zx0J?pli=1 (David Epstein seems to be the top option, as the other 4-time winners from that season didn't come very close to matching his total.)

Citation for 1990 ToC: http://web.archive.org/web/201003271118 ... e/50kplus/ (Paula Massengale is the only Season 6 player on the short list of this old hall of fame list to not compete in the ToC, and she has 4 wins. Fair to assume she's the alternate for this year, if there was one.)

My spreadsheets containing tournament results and the top winners of all time overall will still have the assumed #16 spots of 1980s ToCs for the sake of laying out the outline for later tournaments. I'm pretty confident with this list as of right now, at least until more games for the earliest seasons are archived.
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Re: Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions alternates - who were they

Post by BobF »

Maybe Jeopardy could have a tournament of TOC alternates?
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Re: Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions alternates - who were they

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finishemzoe wrote: Tue Feb 01, 2022 6:33 am As far as I know, everyone from 1992 onward is confirmed, except for Bob Majeska, though it's reasonable to assume it's him.
Hmmm did you try to contact any of the participants in the '94 ToC to see if they can confirm that?
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Re: Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions alternates - who were they

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jeopardyfan87 wrote: Tue Feb 01, 2022 3:45 pm
finishemzoe wrote: Tue Feb 01, 2022 6:33 am As far as I know, everyone from 1992 onward is confirmed, except for Bob Majeska, though it's reasonable to assume it's him.
Hmmm did you try to contact any of the participants in the '94 ToC to see if they can confirm that?
Haven't had the privilege, unfortunately. We were wanting to get Rachael Schwartz to participate but we either couldn't get a hold of her, or we did and she never responded.
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Re: Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions alternates - who were they

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Are we defining alternate as simply the “16th seed” or did they have to actually go out there to be ready to go on in case of an emergency?
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Re: Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions alternates - who were they

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Bamaman wrote: Wed Feb 02, 2022 4:52 pm Are we defining alternate as simply the “16th seed” or did they have to actually go out there to be ready to go on in case of an emergency?
Yes? Like, both: the alternate has to actually go out there & be ready to go on in case of an emergency, & the alternates have - as far as we're aware - always been the 16th seed or, failing that, next highest-ranking available seed.
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Re: Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions alternates - who were they

Post by finishemzoe »

brucejoel199 wrote: Wed Feb 02, 2022 11:44 pm
Bamaman wrote: Wed Feb 02, 2022 4:52 pm Are we defining alternate as simply the “16th seed” or did they have to actually go out there to be ready to go on in case of an emergency?
Yes? Like, both: the alternate has to actually go out there & be ready to go on in case of an emergency, & the alternates have - as far as we're aware - always been the 16th seed or, failing that, next highest-ranking available seed.
Yeah, essentially both. You can follow that format by viewing my leaderboard with the results of every ToC.
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Re: Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions alternates - who were they

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Robert K S wrote: Tue Aug 16, 2022 11:18 pm

Ahh, so just one this year? I figured they might bring in Yungsheng Wang with her.
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Re: Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions alternates - who were they

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finishemzoe wrote: Wed Aug 17, 2022 12:17 am
Robert K S wrote: Tue Aug 16, 2022 11:18 pm

Ahh, so just one this year? I figured they might bring in Yungsheng Wang with her.
She said on Reddit that she didn't know if she was the only one.
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Re: Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions alternates - who were they

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Ironhorse wrote: Wed Aug 17, 2022 12:18 am
finishemzoe wrote: Wed Aug 17, 2022 12:17 am
Ahh, so just one this year? I figured they might bring in Yungsheng Wang with her.
She said on Reddit that she didn't know if she was the only one.
Yeah, I just saw that. Given that the 2021 TOC had two alternates following the COVID-19 pandemic and the horrific Brayden situation, as well as the fact that this field is expanded to 21 instead of the usual 15, I'd be surprised if they don't do the same thing this year. Yungsheng would be next in line, which would make even more sense since he lives in the LA area.
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Re: Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions alternates - who were they

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For what it's worth, J! Archive is now calling Peter Lalos a 4-time champion. (I don't know when it was changed, but Google's cache of his page, dated July 4, still has the "X-time champion" placeholder.) They don't have a grand total for him, but at the end of his third game, his 3-day total is higher than Richard Landon's 4-day total.
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Re: Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions alternates - who were they

Post by AndyTheQuizzer »

seaborgium wrote: Wed Jul 26, 2023 3:23 pm For what it's worth, J! Archive is now calling Peter Lalos a 4-time champion. (I don't know when it was changed, but Google's cache of his page, dated July 4, still has the "X-time champion" placeholder.) They don't have a grand total for him, but at the end of his third game, his 3-day total is higher than Richard Landon's 4-day total.
For what it's worth, I made that change this morning when archiving game #42. Why? Alex made some references during early Season 1 episodes to a 4-day champion that we'd previously been unaware of.

In Episode 69, Alex made reference to Ric Moser being the 5th player going for his 5th win. With the information previously known, this pretty much had to be Peter anyway.

However, after the Jeopardy! round of Game #42, Alex, in his attempts to tell Nava that she wasn't out of it, made reference to a recent player who was in a distant third his first game who then ended up being on for five shows—which I have taken to be a reference to Peter Lalos and Episodes #35–39.

Thus, I have marked Peter as a 4-day champion, winnings unknown.
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Re: Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions alternates - who were they

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Yungsheng Wang (3x, $84,202) and Lucy Ricketts (3x, $79,499) were the other two alternates for 2022, via info from Cindy Zhang and Mattea Roach.
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