[Warning: The following post contains MAJOR spoilers for the Tuesday, January 6, episode of Jeopardy!]
The Jeopardy! Champions Wildcard Tournament continued on Tuesday, January 6, for its second game. This episode came down to a Triple Stumper and determined the second person in the semi-finals.
The three returning contestants were Geoff Barnes, from Washington, D.C., Dave Bond, from Rochester, New York, and Michelle Tsai, from Honolulu, Hawaii. Barnes won three games in June 2025 and had a three-day total of $44,801, falling just short of qualifying for the Tournament of Champions. Bond competed all the way back in December 2024. He won two games, coming out with a total of $54,400. Tsai won the Second Chance Tournament and advanced to the Champions Wildcard. She first appeared on the game show in May 2025 and placed second.
Tsai, a tutor, was in the lead with $2,000 when she found the Daily Double. She made it a true Daily Double in “Shakespeare Gets Wild.” The clue read, “This king’s horses ‘turned wild in nature, broke their stalls… ’tis said they eat each other’ after his murder by Macbeth.” “Who is Duncan?” she answered correctly. This gave Tsai $4,000 and a big lead.
She ended the round in the lead with $7,200. Bond, a retired grant writer turned art student, caught up with $6,200. Barnes, an analyst, was in third place with $1,600.
In Double Jeopardy, Tsai lost the lead in the beginning. She found the first Daily Double at $10,000. She wagered $2,000 in “Diseases,” which would put her on top if she got it right. The clue was “2025 saw an outbreak in New York of this form of pneumonia first identified in 1976.”
“What is I’m so glad I only bet $2,000?” she answered, which was obviously wrong. The correct response was Legionnaires’ disease. Tsai dropped down to $8,000.
She found the second DD on clue 15. With $10,800 in her bank, she wagered $2,000 again. In “Linguistics,” the clue read, “If you see ‘PIE’ as part of the etymology of a word, it stands for this reconstructed parent language.”
“What is I don’t know?” Tsai answered with a laugh. The correct response was Proto-Indo-European, so she dropped down to $8,800.
However, she didn’t let the failed Daily Doubles stop her. By the end of the round, she had the lead with $16,000. Bond had $11,800. Barnes was in third place with $8,800.
The category for Final Jeopardy was “Typography.” The clue read, “Inspired by Port Authority Bus Terminal signage, it was adopted as a font by N.Y.U. & the Tribeca Film Festival.” The final question was a triple stumper. The correct response was Gotham.
Barnes wrote “What is Helvetica?” He wagered $8,000, leaving him with $800. Bond’s response was “What is Arial? Go Bills!” he was wrong and dropped down to $10,000 after wagering $1,800. Tsai did not give a response, writing “What is?” She wagered $1,602, giving her a final total of $14,398.
Tsai advances to the semi-finals and joins Stella Trout. Find out who will join them on Wednesday.
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