‘Jeopardy!’ Champion Adriana Harmeyer Talks Masters

‘Jeopardy!’ Champion Adriana Harmeyer Reveals Why She Was Surprised She Got the Call for Masters & if She’s Ever Going Back

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Adriana Harmeyer is a name that every Jeopardy! fanatic is most likely familiar with. After her incredible original run in 2024, Harmeyer has been called for tournament after tournament. She revealed how long it took to film Masters and why she was surprised that she was a part of this season.

The Jeopardy! champion had a 16-game winning streak where she accumulated a total of $351,600. She then went on to compete in the Tournament of Champions and Masters. Harmeyer placed third in the 2025 ToC and took home $75,000.

She talked with Jillian Ellison of the Lafayette Journal & Courier after her first game in the 2025 Masters Tournament on May 7. She finished second with $4,400, giving her 1 point after competing against fellow ToC finalists Isaac Hirsch and Neilesh Vinjamuri. Overall, Harmeyer is in sixth place so far.

The outlet asked her if she was surprised that she was picked for this year’s Masters and the Purdue University professor said that she was. “Yes, I was very surprised, because based on the way they did it last year, I probably wouldn’t have because they used to have only six people for Masters, and only the winner of the Tournament of Champions would go on to compete in it, too. This year I guess they decided to expand it so that the finalists in ToC could go through, too,” she said.

This year, they decided to have nine contestants competing instead of six. Harmeyer revealed that the nine competitors filmed over two weeks in California. “It’s only been a few weeks since we filmed that, so it was a pretty quick turnaround between filming dates,” she said.

Harmeyer said that filming Masters and the ToC were completely different because she had more time to prepare for the ToC. “I think one thing, too, is that with ToC, I had been at the top of the competition, so I might have felt more pressure to do well. But with Masters, I am playing with some of the greatest players of all time, and I think there was peace going into this that I’m not necessarily the favorite this time. I went into this just happy to experience it,” she told the outlet.

As for what she does during her downtime, Harmeyer shared, “That is something I’ve thought about. The week before, when I know I am going back, I tend to read things and watch things with strategy in mind. Like, ‘Oh! That’s a really famous movie I’ve never seen.’ It doesn’t really allow for time to sit down and read a 500-page novel. Now that cramming is over, I can just acknowledge that something is a dumb movie or whatever and I can watch it for fun without feeling like I need to study it.”

Masters is far from over, but Harmeyer revealed if she would ever come back for another tournament run. “Maybe I will get to go back someday, and that would be great, too. If I do, that’d be at least a year away, probably. Some of the people who appear in Masters first played 25 years ago, so the appearances can keep going,” she said. She’s talking about Brad Rutter, who first appeared on Jeopardy! 25 years ago, and is competing in this year’s Masters.

Harmeyer will be back on Jeopardy! fans’ TV screens soon though, as she has more rounds of Masters coming up.

Jeopardy! Masters, Wednesdays, 9/8c, ABC, next day on Hulu