Which ‘Jeopardy! Masters’ Stars Have Racked Up the Most Money in Their Careers?
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Get your buzzer finger ready: It’s time for Jeopardy! Masters’ biggest season yet. This time, nine players are facing off in the quiz show tournament, instead of the usual six. And at the end of nine hour-long episodes — which each installment featuring two games — one brainiac will take home the Trebek Trophy and the $500,000 grand prize.
As the J!Buzz blog explains, players will earn “match points” in each game — three points for the winner, one point for the runner-up, and zero for the third-place player.
The knockouts will take place over six games across three episodes, after which the top six players will play in the quarterfinals in the next three episodes. The top four quarterfinalists will compete in the semifinals across two episodes, and in the season finale, the top three semifinalists will duke it out with traditional dollar-value scores in a two-game “total point affair.”
But no one’s going home empty-handed as Season 3 kicks off on Thursday, April 30, on ABC. The runner-up will get $250,000, the third-place player will get $150,000, and so on. Even the players nixed in the knockouts will still get $15,000 consolation prizes.
But where do the Season 3 players’ Jeopardy! totals stand now? Find out in this ranking based on info from the Jeopardy! website and the fan-maintained J! Archive.
Jeopardy! Masters, Season 3 Premiere, Wednesday, April 30, 8/7c, ABC
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9. Juveria Zaheer: $191,000
Zaheer, a psychiatrist from Whitby, Ontario, overcame a Season 39 loss to triumph in the 2023 Second Chance and 2024 Champions Wildcard competitions and to be a 2024 Tournament of Champions quarterfinalist and a 2024 Invitational Tournament finalist.
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8. Isaac Hirsch: $293,390
Hirsch, a customer support team lead from Burbank, California, had a nine-day winning streak in Season 40 and then took silver in the 2025 Tournament of Champions. Fun fact: He’s also the son of Steve Hirsch, a player from Season 2.
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7. Neilesh Vinjamuri: $306,099
Vinjamuri, a software engineer from Lionville, Pennsylvania, only won three games in Season 40, but he made a name for himself at the 2025 Tournament of Champions, where he won gold and took home $250,000.
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6. Adriana Harmeyer: $426,600
Harmeyer, an archivist from West Lafayette, Indiana, took bronze in that 2025 Tournament of Champions, but she still has Vinjamuri and Hirsch beat in total winnings, thanks to her 15-game winning streak in Season 40.
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5. Yogesh Raut: $598,403
Raut, a cognitive and behavioral scientist from Vancouver, Washington, scored a quarter-million dollars by winning the 2024 Tournament of Champions and then another quarter-million as that year’s Jeopardy! Masters runner-up.
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4. Roger Craig: $606,200
Craig, an applied scientist from Arlington, Virginia, and the husband of Julia Collins, won the 2011 Tournament of Champions in 2011 and came in third in the Battle of the Decades in 2014. He then placed second at the 2019 All-Star Games and 2025 Invitational Tournament.
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3. Victoria Groce: $623,801
Groce, a writer and television personality from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is “The Queen” who got the bulk of her winnings from her impressive 2024, when she won both the Invitational Tournament and Season 2 of Jeopardy! Masters.
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2. Matt Amodio: $1,879,601
Amodio, a quantitative researcher from New York City, netted more than $1.5 million across 39 games in Season 37 and 38. He then competed in the 2022 Tournament of Champions and the first two Jeopardy! Masters seasons before winning the 2025 Invitational Tournament.
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1. Brad Rutter: $4,953,436
Rutter, a Jeopardy! legend from Los Angeles, is returning to the Alex Trebek Stage for the first time since 2020. After making his debut on the game show in Season 17, Rutter won $2,115,000 in 2005’s Ultimate Tournament of Champions and another $1 million in 2014’s Battle of the Decades.
