‘Jeopardy!’ Reveals Tournament of Champions Lineup With ‘Disappointing’ Dropout & Big Twist

Jeopardy! has unveiled the lineup and format for its iconic Tournament of Champions. It features a twist borrowed from 2022: the top three players automatically advance into the semifinals, all three-day champs in the mix like 2024, and something blue (the set). The stage is set for what fans expect to be a buzzworthy showdown.

Producer Sarah Foss and (retired) champion Sam Buttrey announced the 2025 ToC details on Monday’s Inside Jeopardy! podcast. They prefaced that Lisa Ann Walter, who won Celebrity Jeopardy! and was expected to compete like Ike Barinholtz, is out because of scheduling conflicts with Abbott Elementary. “A bit of disappointing news,” Foss shared. “But we have extended the invite for next year.”

The 2025 ToC will consist of 21 players, the top 20 champs from last April until December, and the winner of a 15-contestant Champions Wildcard. Also, like in past years, the ToC will immediately follow a Second Chance Competition for non-winners and a Wildcard for brief winners who didn’t make the cusp.

The postseason airs in one chunk starting on December 30, 2024 until early February, 2025. The ToC will premiere on January 27, 2025, and last around two and a half weeks.

Like the 2022 ToC, the top three players, Adriana Harmeyer, Isaac Hirsch, and Drew Basile, will be seeded directly into the semifinals, with the dynamic trio also playing an exhibition game that airs on TuneIn Radio.

“We will have six quarterfinal matchups, those winners and the three seeded players will go onto our semifinals, that will give us nine players, Foss shared. “They will each play one of three semifinal games. One will advance and that will give us our finals.”

Once more, the finals will be a first-to-three wins format, which is not the same as a best of seven, Ken Jennings! The prize is $250,000 and a berth into Jeopardy! Masters. The competitors, as announced on the podcast, are as follows: