After a few weeks of competitive games, the “Jeopardy!” Invitational Tournament, which featured a mix of popular players in recent years and some fun throwbacks, has concluded.
Here’s a look at the three players who rose to the top out of a pool of 27 to compete in the finals — and who ended up taking home the big prize Thursday night.
Who is competing in the 2025 ‘Jeopardy!’ Invitational Tournament finals?
Matt Amodio
Matt Amodio is a powerhouse “Jeopardy!” player who holds the No. 3 all-time record for most consecutive games won due to his 38-game winning streak in 2021. He sits behind only Amy Schneider, who won 40 games in 2022, and “Jeopardy!” host Ken Jennings — whose 74-game winning streak remains unmatched after two decades.
He’s at No. 3 for highest winnings in regular season play — $1.5 million — and No. 5 for all-time winnings.
During his initial “Jeopardy!” run, Amodio was a doctoral student at Yale University. Now, he’s a quantitative researcher based in New York.
He also competed in both the 2023 and 2024 “Jeopardy!” Masters tournaments, and was a 2022 Tournament of Champions semifinalist.
Amodio’s initial “Jeopardy!” run came amid the show’s controversial effort to find a host following the death of Alex Trebek. The relative quietness surrounding Amodio’s winning streak at the time led Jennings to post on social media that Amodio was “the Jeopardy! story no one is following,” as the Deseret News previously reported.
The “Jeopardy!” star also happens to be a huge fan of Jennings, and watched the host’s legendary run on the show back in 2004.
“It was like a sporting event. If there was gear, I would’ve bought gear and a big foam finger to root him on from my living room,” he previously told Vulture. “I’m a huge Ken fan. Need to say that again.”
Juveria Zaheer
Although Juveria Zaheer, a psychiatrist from Ontario, Canada, hasn’t had as much “Jeopardy!” screen time, she has quickly become a fan favorite.
Zaheer made her “Jeopardy!” debut in 2022 and lost her first game — but it was such a strong performance that she was invited back to compete in the show’s Second Chance Tournament a year later.
Due to some bold Daily Double wagering, Zaheer dominated in the Second Chance Tournament — she won more than $50,000 on Day 1 of the finals alone — and then went on to win the 2024 “Champions Wildcard” tournament. She was a quarterfinalist in the 2024 Tournament of Champions.
Throughout her time on “Jeopardy!” Zaheer has talked about her family, including one of her daughters, who aspires to be a game show host and calls herself “Ken Jennings Jr.”
“Ken Jennings Jr. has really blossomed in her hosting,” Zaheer said during an Invitational Tournament game. “When I started, my first appearance here, she was just 5. Now she’s 7, and she’s perfected reading, so she can read real clues from real boards. And she’s also perfected things like, ‘I’m sorry, no,' and ‘That’s not what we’re looking for.‘ She’s really strict, though, like if you talk out of turn, you get one warning and then you get kicked out.”
Roger Craig
Roger Craig, a computer scientist from Delaware, first appeared on “Jeopardy!” in 2010 and went on a six-game winning streak, qualifying him for the 2011 Tournament of Champions (which he won).
At the time of his initial “Jeopardy!” run, he was the third-highest winning contestant on the show, per the UDaily, which covers University of Delaware news.
During the second game of his 2010 run, Craig also earned the highest one-day total, beating a record Ken Jennings had held for more than six years, according to UDaily.
Craig participated in the show’s “Battle of the Decades” in 2014 and was an All-Star Games contestant in 2019.
Last month, during the Invitational Tournament, Craig revealed some major news to “Jeopardy!” fans: He’s married to legendary “Jeopardy!” player Julia Collins, who holds the No. 7 all-time record for consecutive games won due to her 20-game winning streak in 2014 (she’s also No. 9 for highest winnings in regular season play).
“At the All-Star Games, I reconnected with Julia Collins. I first met her in New York about 10 years ago, and we’re married now,” he told Jennings.
He called the relationship “the best thing that’s ever happened to me,” per TV Insider.
“Wow, ‘Jeopardy!’ power couple!” Jennings exclaimed. “Congratulations!”
What does the ‘Jeopardy!’ Invitational Tournament champion win?
In the finals, the first contestant to win two games will be declared the “Jeopardy!” Invitational Tournament champion.
The winner will claim a $150,000 grand prize and an invitation to participate in the 2025 “Jeopardy!” Masters tournament.
2025 ‘Jeopardy!’ Invitational Tournament finals recap: Who won?
Game 1 — March 5
The first game of the finals proved to be more of a competition between Amodio and Craig, as Zaheer never quite found her footing.
At the end of the first round, Amodio trailed Craig by just $600, while Zaheer was in the red, per “Jeopardy!” archives.
Amodio gained some momentum during the second round, going all-in on a Daily Double and wagering $6,600 on the following clue in the category “European Geography”: ”Connected to the Tyrrhenian Sea, the Strait of Bonifacio separates these two islands."
He came up with the correct response — Corsica and Sardinia — which ended up being part of a spree that included answering 10 consecutive clues correctly, according to The Jeopardy Fan website.
To keep within striking distance, Craig ended up going all-in and wagering $9,600 on the following Daily Double clue in the category “Laying down the law”: “The D.O.J. states that elements of this paired crime involve the ‘intent to facilitate the commission of a crime by another.’”
With the correct response — aiding and abetting — Craig narrowed the lead going into Final Jeopardy. Although Amodio still had the lead with $30,000, Craig was in second with $22,800, while Zaheer had $1,000, per “Jeopardy!” archives.
All three contestants correctly answered the Final Jeopardy clue. Since Amodio wagered enough to win if Craig were to bet it all, he ended up winning the first game of the finals with $45,601.
Now, Amodio needs just one more victory to win the tournament.
Game 2 — March 6
Thursday’s game was a much more even matchup from start to finish.
At the end of the first round, Amodio had a slight lead with $5,200. Vaheer trailed close behind with $4,600 while Craig was in third with $3,400, per “Jeopardy!” archives.
Vaheer, who never really got momentum in Game 1, had a strong performance in the second round, doubling her score and going all-in by wagering $7,800 on the following clue in the category “Five-letter geography”: “Site of an art show with outposts in Hong Kong and Miami Beach, this city sits near where France, Germany and Switzerland meet.”
She came up with the correct response — Basel — and held the lead for the rest of the round and going into Final Jeopardy, per The Jeopardy Fan website.
Ahead of the Final Jeopardy round, Vaheer had the lead with $16,000 — but Amodio wasn’t too far behind with $13,600, according to “Jeopardy!” archives. Craig, meanwhile, was in third with $9,400.
It all came down to the following Final Jeopardy clue:
British royalty: “In the 12th century after walking barefoot, this man stripped down and allowed himself to be flogged by dozens of monks.”
None of the players came up with the correct response: Henry II.
With just one game away from winning the tournament, Amodio’s wager was more conservative. He only wagered $2,401 on the final clue, and concluded the game with $11,199 — more than enough to secure his victory, per The Jeopardy Fan.
With back-to-back wins, Amodio has now landed a spot in the upcoming Masters tournament.