Andy’s Weekly Thoughts (2/3): Homage, My ToC Preview, And The Play-In Games

Current Champion

Nikolas Polsinelli, career statistics:
44 correct, 6 incorrect
2/2 on rebound attempts (on 5 rebound opportunities)
35.96% in first on buzzer (41/114)
4/5 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $10,600)
1/2 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $17,500

To win:
3 games: 64.111%
4: 41.102%
5: 26.351%
6: 16.894%
7: 10.831%
Avg. streak: 3.786 games.
(Click Here for Methodology)

Upcoming Encore Presentations

September 26-27: S42 E174 (May 7, 2026)
October 3-4: S42 E175 (May 8, 2026)
October 10-11: S42 E176 (May 11, 2026)
(Source: Bell Fibe TV program guide)

All Time Winnings

All Time Jeopardy! Winnings, Regular Play Only:

1. Ken Jennings $2,520,700
2. James Holzhauer $2,462,216
3. Matt Amodio $1,518,601
4. Amy Schneider $1,382,800
5. Jamie Ding $882,605
6. Cris Pannullo $748,286
7. Mattea Roach $560,983
8. Jason Zuffranieri $532,496
9. Scott Riccardi $455,000
10. David Madden $430,400
11. Julia Collins $428,100
12. Matt Jackson $411,612
13. Austin Rogers $411,000
14. Ray Lalonde $386,400
15. Harrison Whitaker $373,999
16. Adriana Harmeyer $349,600
17. Caleb Groen $346,968
18. Adam Remsen $306,415
19. Ryan Long $299,400
20. Arthur Chu $297,200

All Time Jeopardy! Winnings, Including Tournaments (and Consolation Prizes):

1. Brad Rutter $4,968,436
2. Ken Jennings $4,372,700
3. James Holzhauer $3,614,216
4. Matt Amodio $1,964,601
5. Amy Schneider $1,864,800
6. Yogesh Raut $1,598,403
7. Victoria Groce $1,023,801
8. Mattea Roach $897,983
9. Jamie Ding $885,605
10. David Madden $785,733
11. Cris Pannullo $754,286
12. Roger Craig $706,200
13. Andrew He $684,365
14. Larissa Kelly $671,930
15. Matt Jackson $623,612
16. Jason Zuffranieri $549,496
17. Paolo Pasco $548,717
18. Scott Riccardi $533,000
19. Jerome Vered $499,102
20. Julia Collins $495,767
21. Austin Rogers $493,000
22. Juveria Zaheer $491,000
23. Ben Ingram $449,201
24. Adriana Harmeyer $446,600
25. Buzzy Cohen $441,603

Welcome to another Saturday editorial here at The Jeopardy! Fan.

As Promised, More About “Homage”

A few people noted online this past week that they didn’t think that Ron Cheung should have been given credit for pronouncing the initial H in “homage” in Wednesday’s game due to the category specifically noting “SILENT H”. This is a precedented ruling: on Wednesday when it happened, I did note that Dave Mattingly got credit back in 2018 for pronouncing the G in Turkish leader Erdoğan, even though that clue specifically said the G was silent.

While I agree that the ruling was within the show’s precedents, I also think that rule should be changed. I believe that the constraints of the category or clue should supersede any otherwise acceptable pronunciations and that both of these previous instances should have been ruled incorrect.

This also leads me to a further tangent: At some point during the offseason, if rules do change, Michael Davies should have a short segment on Inside Jeopardy where he outlines upcoming rule changes. This way, if the rules change, fans aren’t caught off guard, making it easier for us to defend the new rulings when they do occur. (After all, baseball fans would have at least had the opportunity to hear about changes to the sport before showing up to the park on Opening Day.)

Why I’m Going To Be Publishing A Pre-Taping Tournament Of Champions Preview

After a little bit of consultation and thought—and hearing some very interesting thoughts on both sides—I’ve decided that I am going to publish a pre-taping Tournament of Champions preview this time around.

There are obviously some positives and negatives to doing so. One major reason for doing so are that it gives me the opportunity to make predictions without possibly being influenced by anything that might happen at the taping. Another is that it is extra content—and I can still post updated odds and further information once the pairings get released, as it would be interesting to see what players have had their ToC changes helped (or hindered) by the draw itself.

There are also some negatives: we don’t know what the pairings are going to be—the model would obviously be more accurate if it knew the pairings. Additionally, knowing the identity of the final player in the event would also have an effect on the prediction model. (As it stands right now, having zero knowledge of what is to come in Group 2 of Champions Wildcard, I have given the 27^th player statistics equal to the average player in the Tournament of Champions.) Finally—and this was the negative that actually gave me the most pause—I was actually afraid that my words might be a distraction for players leading up to the event.

That being said: after enough thought, I thought that the positives of posting outweighed the negatives, and that preview will be posted later this afternoon. After all, the sport-ification of Jeopardy! is a thing, and I definitely think that this is the exact sort of content that I should be producing in this era.

In order to redesign our merchandise area to serve you better in 2026, all merchandise sales have been temporarily taken offline. Look for a return in late 2026! All previous orders will still be supported.

More Thoughts On The Play-In Games, Now That They’re Done

Now that the three Play-In Games have aired on TuneIn Radio, here are my thoughts:

• I really appreciated how the show listened to feedback from fans after the first two; Buzzy made sure to announce the scores for the listeners at each break and at each Daily Double. I found this very helpful when covering the games to make sure that my scoring charts were correct at important points of the games.
• I think that this should happen more often. In fact, I would say again that putting preliminary rounds such as this on non-traditional media are an excellent compromise between the wish for many fans to have as much regular plays as possible and the show’s wish to have a larger number of tournaments.
• In the future, though, I think some minor compensation should be given to players in these preliminary games, in order to offset the opportunity cost of potentially having to take time off work for what amounts to a non-guaranteed payout.

In Closing

I hope that everyone has a great week!

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