Jeopardy’s 2025 postseason is fast approaching, culminating with the coveted Tournament of Champions. However, there was an unexpected issue on the clue board regarding the lineup. The 2025 ToC is set to feature the top 21 contestants from last April until December, but only 20 spots wound up filled, making the quiz show’s most treasured tradition one player short.
Bosses previously shared the “disappointing news” that Celebrity Jeopardy! winner Lisa Ann Walter, who was expected to compete like Ike Barinholtz, had dropped out due to scheduling conflicts with Abbott Elementary. There were still a few weeks left for the issue to work itself out, but after no one else qualified and two-day champ Stevie Ruiz failed to win a third game, not filling the suddenly empty podium as of last week’s qualifying cutoff, producers were left with an incomplete roster.
On Monday, December 9’s Inside Jeopardy! podcast, producer Sarah Foss, joined by Executive Producer Michael Davies, shared their fix, announcing who the last player in the 2025 ToC would be. Sadly, Walter did not Daily Double back on her commitments. Instead, the last spot will go to the Champions Wildcard first runner-up.
“Because Lisa Ann Walter is so busy with Abbott Elementary and couldn’t be with us as our Celebrity Jeopardy! champion, the person who is the first runner up in Champions Wildcard, which you will see in the upcoming weeks, that person is going to get a spot in the Tournament of Champions,” Foss shared.
The bosses assured that Walter will return for the 2026 ToC instead. “We will have Lisa Ann back as soon as she will have us,” Foss added. “We don’t want to wish anything against Abbott Elementary, but we hope she can be with us for the next year’s ToC.”
Despite it being a slight letdown not to have Walter in the mix, fans now have the completed lineup for the 2025 ToC. Here’s the full and finalized list of contestants:
2025 Tournament of Champions
2025 Champions Wildcard
- Jay Fisher (three wins)
- Marko Saric (two wins)
- Davey Morrison (two wins)
- Will Weiss (two wins)
- Aiden Orzech (two wins)
- Jen Feldman (two wins)
- Eamonn Campbell (two wins)
- Paul Clauson (two wins)
- Joey DeSena (two wins)
- Stevie Ruiz (two wins)
- Evan Dorey (one win)
- Mehal Shah (one win)
- Adam Hirsch (one win)
- Second Chance winner 1
- Second Chance winner 2
The ToC, like last year, will be three events. It immediately follows an 18-player Second Chance Competition for non-winners and a 15-player Champions Wildcard Tournament for brief winners who didn’t make the cusp. The postseason airs in one chunk starting on December 30, 2024 until early February 2025. The ToC will premiere on January 27, 2025, and last around two and a half weeks.
And much like the 2022 ToC, the top three players, Harmeyer, Hirsch, and Basile, will be seeded directly into the semifinals, with the dynamic trio also playing an exhibition game that airs on TuneIn Radio. “We will have six quarterfinal matchups, those winners and the three seeded players will go onto our semifinals, that will give us nine players, Foss previously shared on Inside Jeopardy!. “They will each play one of three semifinal games. One will advance and that will give us our finals.”
Once more, the finals will be a first-to-three wins format, which is not the same as a best of seven, so don’t get it twisted Ken Jennings! The grand prize is $250,000 and a berth into Jeopardy! Masters.
As far as nightly Jeopardy! goes, this means that all players who go on winning streaks (or deserve a Second Chance) going forward will qualify for the 2026 postseason during Season 42. That ToC, starting with two-day champ Dave Bond as its first postseason qualifier, which will take place next winter.
Are you excited for the 2025 ToC? Who do you think will win? Are you bummed that Lisa Ann Walter can’t make it? A silver lining is we may have two Celebrity Jeopardy! winners in the next one- fun! Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
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