Current Champion
Matthew Riggle, career statistics:
47 correct, 6 incorrect
1/1 on rebound attempts (on 4 rebound opportunities)
41.23% in first on buzzer (47/114)
3/3 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $7,600)
1/2 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $21,300
To win:
3 games: 68.027%
4: 46.277%
5: 31.481%
6: 21.415%
7: 14.568%
Avg. streak: 4.128 games.
(Next game: September 14)
(Click Here for Methodology)
Upcoming Encore Presentations
August 12: S42 E98 (January 21, 2026)
August 13: S42 E99 (January 22, 2026)
August 14: S42 E100 (January 23, 2026)
August 15-16: S41 E141 (March 24, 2025)
August 17: S42 E101 (January 26, 2026)
August 18: S42 E105 (January 30, 2026)
August 19: S42 E102 (January 27, 2026)
August 20: S42 E103 (January 28, 2026)
August 21: S42 E104 (January 29, 2026)
August 22-23: S41 E142 (March 25, 2025)
August 24: S42 E106 (February 2, 2026)
August 25: S42 E107 (February 3, 2026)
August 26: S42 E108 (February 4, 2026)
August 27: S42 E109 (February 5, 2026)
August 28: S42 E110 (February 6, 2026)
August 29-30: S41 E143 (March 26, 2025)
(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 $1,098,403
7. Mattea Roach $897,983
8. Jamie Ding $885,605
9. David Madden $785,733
10. Victoria Groce $773,801
11. Cris Pannullo $754,286
12. Roger Craig $706,200
13. Larissa Kelly $671,930
14. Matt Jackson $623,612
15. Jason Zuffranieri $549,496
16. Andrew He $534,365
17. Scott Riccardi $533,000
18. Jerome Vered $499,102
19. Julia Collins $495,767
20. Austin Rogers $493,000
21. Ben Ingram $449,201
22. Paolo Pasco $448,717
23. Adriana Harmeyer $446,600
24. Buzzy Cohen $441,603
25. Juveria Zaheer $441,000
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This week on Inside Jeopardy!, producers Michael Davies & Sarah Foss announced that the 2026 Champions Wildcard would be slightly different than the 2025 version. While the field size is identical to 2025—15—this year the show is reserving the right to use more statistics than “wins” and “money won” to determine the ultimate make-up of the field. (However, anyone with at least 3 wins will be guaranteed spots.)
In terms of things here at The Jeopardy! Fan, I unveiled the Unified Prediction Model earlier this year; this also can give us a sense of what champions might see a Champions Wildcard invite. Obviously, as this tournament will be taping before the field is announced on November 10, the requisite players will already have been informed that they’re competing (they’ll need to prepare for travel and the like), but it’s still fun to potentially speculate.
In terms of why the postseason announcement will be coming on November 10: the Tournament of Champions is very likely taping November 18–21, and this allows for a week of previews before the tournament tapes.
Any references to APM and Excitement Factor are of the regular-play calculations; these numbers will be higher than the corresponding metrics used later for the Tournament of Champions predictions.
(Content continues below)
Are you going on the show and looking for information about how to bet in Final Jeopardy? Check out my Betting Strategy 101 page. If you want to learn how to bet in two-day finals, check out Betting Strategy 102. In case the show uses a tournament with wild cards in the future, there is also a strategy page for betting in tournament quarterfinals.
Are you looking for information on how to stream Jeopardy! in 2026? Find out information here on how to stream from most places in North America!
You can find game-by-game stats here at The Jeopardy! Fan of all 23 players, including Caleb Groen, Adam Remsen, Tristan Williams and Jamie Ding, that have won 10 or more games on Jeopardy!
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The Guarantees: 3-Time Winners
As of this writing, there are 5 3-time champions whose spot in the Tournament of Champions is not mathematically guaranteed: Tom Devlin, Brendan Liaw, Mike Dawson, Bill McKinney, and Geoff Barnes. I would venture that it would take a very unlikely set of circumstances to relegate Tom, Brendan, and Mike to Champions Wildcard. Assuming the long-term historical average of a champion having a 50% chance of winning their next game, the mean number of 3+-game champions between now and the end of the qualification period is 1.75; this means that Bill is very much on the bubble at this point. I am thus going to assume that Bill (APM 8,986, 34th; Excite 24,475, 30th) and Geoff (APM 9,651, 25th; Excite 24,825, 27th) will be relegated to Champions Wildcard.
The 2-Time Winners
James Corson (APM 11,279, 9th; Excite 30,190, 10th)
James picked up over $70,000 in two victories. We’ll be seeing him on the Alex Trebek Stage again. While the APM doesn’t exactly make him a favorite, he’ll certainly be a tough out.
Jonathan Hugendubler (APM 13,177, 4th; Excite 33,378, 5th)
Jonathan was the Giant Killer for Scott Riccardi, and currently has the second-most amount of winnings of any player in contention for Champions Wildcard. I do think that will be more than enough to send him through.
Dave Bond (APM 9,791, 23rd; Excite 25,521, 24th)
Dave was the carryover contestant from last season’s postseason cutoff; he’ll have had to wait a full year to find out if he’s making it through. While it would be a cruel irony for a change in format to knock Dave out this time around, I think his $51,400 in winnings will be enough to see him through.
Jason Singer (APM 11,575, 8th; Excite 25,829, 22nd)
While Jason was the center of a minor controversy back in July over both halves of married couples winning on the show, he was picking up strong victories and was only barely unseated by Scott Riccardi. We’ll be seeing Jason again for sure. (I can’t say I’m as sure about a JIT invite for his wife Susan, though.)
Dargan Ware (APM 15,222, 1st; Excite 38,136, 1st)
Dargan had two victories and had a massive score going into Final Jeopardy in the third, losing one of the highest-scoring games of all time between first and second going into clue #61. That’s enough to make sure we see him again, in my opinion, with his APM being strong enough to make him joint favorite to advance to the ToC along with Vickie Talvola.
Any Other 2-Time Champions?
I think Mitch Loflin (APM 10608, 14th; Excite 28731, 14th) has an outside chance of being invited; an invite might depend on if Bill McKinney is in the Tournament of Champions or Champions Wildcard. However, I think the remainder of the 2-time champions don’t have a compelling statistical or publicity case, especially compared to the 1-time champions below.
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The Most Likely 1-Time Winners
These six 1-time champions are who I believe are the likeliest to be invited back. (They”re ordered by money won, not by UPM rankings.)
Prasad Patil (APM 11,611, 7th; Excite 31,103, 9th)
I have a feeling that Prasad’s victory over Vickie Talvola is a major reason why the show felt it necessary to cast Champions Wildcard on more than just wins and money. Remember, had Vickie bet to cover, Prasad would have been practically guaranteed a Second Chance spot, while Vickie would have had plenty of money after 2 wins to qualify for postseason play. As it stands, I think Prasad’s stats are strong enough to garner a Champions Wildcard invitation.
Steven Hoying (APM 13,724, 3rd; Excite 35,957 3rd)
Steven Hoying was the bookend champion between a pair of ToCers in Andrew Hayes and Liam Starnes. While all of his stats were very strong, his case is made even stronger by having the toughest “strength of schedule” of anyone in the Champions Wildcard pool, boosting his Adjusted Performance Mean.
Stella Trout (APM 13,100, 5th; Excite 32,467 6th)
Stella had a very strong first game before nearly having a runaway, but losing, back in June to Joey Quismorio. Two strong performances rate well for Stella in both the Adjusted Performance Mean and Excitement metrics, enough for her to leapfrog her way in to Champions Wildcard.
Vickie Talvola (APM 15,211, 2nd; Excite 36,728 2nd)
I honestly suspect that Vickie will receive an invite for the same reason as Prasad Patil will: her run ended tragically early as the result of a conservative Final Jeopardy bet not working out for her. If she does, she’ll be close to favorite status alongside Dargan Ware (and potentially anyone making it into this event through Second Chance.)
Harvey Silikovitz (APM 10,948, 11th; Excite 35,761 4th)
The “H-Bomb” ended Laura Faddah’s run with one of the most dominant first games ever; unfortunately, his second game was not nearly as strong. However, the high variance plays well into his Excitement metric, and I think his incredibly strong first game is enough to see him get another chance on the Alex Trebek Stage.
Delaney O’Dea (APM 9206, 32nd, Excite 24525, 38th)
Delaney O’Dea’s Champions Wildcard case comes entirely from the publicity she received for winning a game of Jeopardy! at the age of 18. I could definitely see the production staff going either way on inviting Delaney.
Any Others?
Depending on the demographic distribution that the show wants to see in Champions Wildcard, I would absolutely not be surprised if we saw Judith Friedman, Erin Morin, Kiley Campbell, Allegra Hill, or Cindy del Rosario receiving invitations.
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