In a tournament that started with nine players, the finals of this year’s “Jeopardy!” Masters event was almost a repeat of last year’s — two of the three top players who competed for the $500,000 prize and the Trebek Trophy in 2024 once again found themselves in the running Wednesday night.
Victoria Groce, seeking to win back-to-back “Jeopardy!” Masters titles, competed against returning Masters finalist Yogesh Raut and newcomer Juveria Zaheer in a thrilling two-game season finale.
Here’s a recap of the finale, a nail-biter that included an impressive comeback and daring wagers — and came down to the final clue.
What happened in the ‘Jeopardy!’ Masters finals?
Game 1 recap
Going into the finale, Groce was the player to beat.
Groce’s history with “Jeopardy!” dates back to 2005, when she became the one-game champion who defeated 19-game winner David Madden.
In her return to the quiz show two decades later, Groce has been formidable.
She emerged victorious in the 2024 Masters tournament, defeating “Jeopardy!” greats Raut and 32-game champion James Holzhauer, who declined to participate in this year’s Masters event.
Looking for back-to-back wins, Groce has been dominant throughout the tournament.
And she started out strong with Game 1 of Wednesday’s two-game finale.
Although she lost $4,000 on a Daily Double in the second round, she got another shot when she landed on the other Daily Double in a category called “Let’s hit the road.”
She wagered all of her $7,400 on the following clue: “During World War II, this historic highway carried vital supplies from Lashio to Kunming.”
Groce came up with the correct response — “What is the Burma Road?” — to bring her total to $14,800.
The big wager helped secure her lead going into Final Jeopardy. She had $21,200; Raut, in second place had $13,000; and Zaheer, who struggled to gain momentum in this first game, finished in the red with -$1,000 (at one point she had -$3,000).
Because of her negative total, Zaheer was not allowed to participate in the Final Jeopardy round, leaving Groce and Raut to battle it out for the first win of the finals.
The Final Jeopardy clue: “Heard often in the film ‘The Conqueror,’ this name of a once-nomadic people comes from a Latin word used for hell.”
Raut was on the right track with his response, but narrowly missed it by a single letter. Host Ken Jennings deemed Raut’s response — “Who are Tatars?” — incorrect because “Tatars” derives from a Turkic language, not Latin. The response Jennings was looking for was “Tartars.”
Raut lost all $13,000 with his error and dropped down to zero. Groce also didn’t come up with the correct response, but her smaller wager dropped her down to $14,400 and enabled her to secure the victory.
But, as Jennings noted, the finale was a two-game total point affair. Victory was still in reach for all three contestants.
Game 2 recap
Zaheer came into Game 2 a little more fired up.
She landed on the game’s first Daily Double early on, when she had just $800. By rule, she was allowed to wager up to $1,000, which she opted to do on the following clue in the category “World history”: “The Piagnoni, fanboys of Girolamo Savonarola, were the main instigators behind these events; one took place on Shrove Tuesday.”
With her correct response — “What is Bonfire of the Vanities?” — she brought her total to $1,800. At the end of the first round, Zaheer was in second place with $5,200. Raut had the lead with $7,000 while Groce trailed in third with $4,200.
The second round featured massive Daily Double wagers from both Zaheer and Raut (Groce was shut out of the game’s three Daily Doubles).
Seeking to claim the Trebek Trophy in her Masters debut, Zaheer — who was in second place when she landed on a Daily Double — wagered all of her $10,800 on the following clue: “The Western limit of the Mediterranean is a line drawn between Cape Spartel in Africa and this Spanish cape famed in Naval history.”
With the correct response — “What is Trafalgar?” — Zaheer went into the lead with $21,600.
But eventually Raut landed on the other Daily Double and also went all-in, wagering all of his $16,600 on the following clue: “Polonium, radium and uranium were all first discovered in this ore.”
He came up with the correct response and brought his total to a staggering $33,200.
Going into Final Jeopardy, Raut had the lead with $36,000. Zaheer was in second with $20,800 and Groce was in third with $11,000.
It all came down to the Final Jeopardy clue, in the category “Paintings”: “The artist saw this subject as a kindred spirit and in 1890 depicted him with flowers used to treat heart disease.”
All three came up with the correct response: “Who is Dr. Gachet?”
With her all-in wager of $11,000, Groce doubled her Game 2 total to $22,000. Jennings then added in her Game 1 total of $14,400 to bring her two-game combined score to $36,400.
Zaheer wagered $16,000 on the clue, bringing her total up to $36,800 — just $400 ahead of Groce for the potential win.
And then all eyes were on Raut.
The 2024 “Jeopardy!” Masters runner-up wagered $5,601, raising his total to $41,601 —and making him the winner of the 2025 “Jeopardy!” Masters tournament.
Jennings called the two-game affair an “extraordinarily close final.”
Raut’s win was especially impressive considering he was at zero at the end of Game 1. With the victory, he walked away with the $500,000 grand prize.
Zaheer, meanwhile, was visibly emotional as she processed her second-place win — a remarkable comeback considering this was her Masters debut and she had finished in the red on Game 1. She took home $250,000 for finishing second.
Groce claimed the $150,000 prize with her third-place finish.