The lineup of this year’s “Jeopardy!” Masters final was almost a repeat of last year’s — and the year before.
For the third year in a row, Victoria Groce and Yogesh Raut found themselves among the final three players competing in the prestigious tournament for the $500,000 prize and the Trebek Trophy.
Going into the two-game final Tuesday night, Raut was seeking back-to-back wins while Groce was looking to reclaim her title from 2024.
Andrew He, who placed fourth in the inaugural Masters tournament back in 2023, was seeking his first tournament win.
Here’s a recap of the two-game final.
What happened in the ‘Jeopardy!’ Masters final?
Game 1 recap
The first Daily Double of the game came late in the first round — which gave Groce an opportunity to wager all of her $2,400 on the clue in an attempt to close the gap on Raut’s $7,200.
The Daily Double fell under the category “A trip to the valley”: “It’s home to the Timbisha Shoshone village at Furnace Creek.”
Groce didn’t come up with the correct response — “What is Death Valley?” — and dropped to zero. At one point, she dipped down to $-400 but managed to finish the first round on the plus side with 400 points. Raut had a strong lead with $7,800, while He was in second with $3,400.
The Double Jeopardy round was largely a match between Raut and Groce. Groce — who managed to land on all of the Daily Doubles in the game — started gaining some momentum.
She pulled off a daring move when she landed on the third Daily Double of the game and wagered all of her $8,000 in an effort to surpass Raut, who had $15,400.
The clue: “With a name meaning ‘new soldier,’ these elite Ottoman troops were early adopters of gunpowder weapons.”
Groce got it right — “Who are the Janissaries?” — and doubled her total to $16,000.
By the end of the Double Jeopardy round, though, Raut had managed to pull ahead slightly. The defending champ finished the round with $19,800 — just $1,000 over Groce. He, meanwhile, trailed in third with $7,800.
All three players got the Final Jeopardy clue right, so it came down to the wagering.
He wagered almost everything and finished the game with $15,577. Groce played it safe and didn’t wager anything, keeping her total at $18,800. Raut was more aggressive in his approach and wagered $10,000, bringing his Game 1 winning total to $29,800.
But the tournament wasn’t over yet — the three contestants still had another game to play.
Game 2 recap
The playing was a little more even at the start of Game 2.
Groce landed on a Daily Double early on and wagered her $1,000 on the following clue: “The breakup of Czechoslovakia into Slovakia and the Czech Republic is called this, playing on the name of a 1989 event.”
The 2024 “Jeopardy!” Masters champ came up with the correct response — “What is the Velvet Divorce?” — and brought her total to $2,000.
By the end of the first round, Groce had a $600 lead over Raut with $6,200. He was in a distant third with $1,400.
He didn’t find much luck in the second round of the game, either. After dropping to zero on a missed Daily Double, He was able to climb back up a little to finish the Double Jeopardy round with $2,800.
Groce had the momentum for much of the second round. Raut narrowed the gap when he wagered $5,000 on a Daily Double and brought his total up to $15,000. Groce was in the lead with $17,000 at that point.
By the end of the Double Jeopardy round, it looked like Groce would maintain a lead. But host Ken Jennings announced that Raut would be awarded some points for a previous answer that had been deemed incorrect.
So like the previous game, Raut once again ended up going into the Final Jeopardy round with just a slight lead over Groce ($19,000 to $18,600).
It all came down to the Final Jeopardy clue.
Supreme Court Decisions: “This 1944 decision frequently cites Hirabayashi v. U.S., decided 18 months earlier and upholding a conviction for violating curfew.”
Raut was the only player to come up with the correct response: “What is Korematsu?”
His $7,201 wager brought him to a Game 2 total of $26,201. With a combined two-game total of $56,001 (surpassing Groce’s two-game total by more than $30,000), Raut became the 2026 “Jeopardy!” Masters champion — and the first player to win the tournament back-to-back.
When do new ‘Jeopardy!’ episodes air?
A new season of “Jeopardy!” premieres Sept. 14.
The Season 43 premiere episode will see the return of two-game champ Matthew Riggle, a community college math instructor from Alabama.
Riggle had an exciting comeback in his “Jeopardy!” debut, winning the game with a large sum of $48,001 after being down by $16,000 at one point, as the Deseret News previously reported.