Purdue super champ Adriana Harmeyer knocked out of ‘Jeopardy!’ Masters tournament, wins $15k

Harmeyer briefly held second place after the Final “Jeopardy!” round, but Matt Amodio’s wager edged her out.
Victoria Groce won the episode with a runaway score.
Harmeyer won a $15,000 prize for her participation in the tournament.

WEST LAFAYETTE, IN — In the fifth episode of the “Jeopardy!” Masters tournament, Purdue University professor Adriana Harmeyer found her run coming to an end, just a few hundred dollars shy of a potential second-place finish.

Up against fellow super champions Matt Amodio and Victoria Groce, Harmeyer often found herself neck and neck with Amodio, while Groce turned the game into a runaway.

Here’s how Harmeyer’s final episode in the “Jeopardy!” Masters tournament Wednesday night turned out.

How did she fare in the May 14 rounds?

A slow start in the first “Jeopardy!” round saw Harmeyer trailing into the first commercial break, although she was able to temporarily come ahead into second over Amodio in the Double “Jeopardy!” round. But throughout the game, a quick buzzer finger and lucky Daily Double finds secured Groce’s first place into the final “Jeopardy!” round.

In the category of “18th century science,” the final “Jeopardy!” question read, “Naturalist The Count de Buffon mocked N. & S. American animals, like ‘this elephant of the new world … the size of a very small mule.'” The answer: What is a tapir?

Harmeyer answered correctly, earning a nod from host Ken Jennings to her commercial break fun fact regarding quiz preparation on animals with her 6-year-old nephew. Harmeyer’s wager of $6,500 nearly doubled her score to $13,300, briefly holding second place once again over Amodio.

But all three contestants answered correctly, with Amodio’s safe wager of $601 pushing him above Harmeyer at $13,601, placing second behind Groce’s first-place total of $27,200.

Harmeyer exits the tournament with a $15,000 cash prize win, the base prize awarded to the bottom three players in the prime-time show.

Jillian Ellison is a reporter for the Journal & Courier. She can be reached via email at [email protected].