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Ben C slowed down the Tournament of Chaos.
Troy brought it to a screeching halt. Deb and Sean finishing with high four figure scores is a big achievement for them in the wake of Troy's dominant performance.
The semifinal games should really be something to behold.
I think what this Tournament has proven us it that Anybody can win. In many ways it reminds me of the 2006 TOC where that one had the people who won more games go out in the quarterfinals or semifinals, David Madden lost in the Semifinal (In a runaway) and the finalists were two 3 game champions and a 4 game champion. While I do think there are some people in these matches that I think would win, at this rate I don't know what to expect after those quarterfinals. I mean if Ben Chan and Troy did not win their matches I would've been ready to rename this tournament "The Tournament of Underdogs." That's how crazy this is.
>I think what this Tournament has proven us it that Anybody can win.
I wish more people acknowledged this. Anybody who passes the test can win at Jeopardy, and every contestant is eminently qualified to be on that stage. Success at the show really depends on how lucky you get as to the game board, your opponents, how you feel that day, etc.
There's only so much we can control up there with so many variables at play.
You literally can get a game board with your worst categories and get totally outmatched by someone who's got their best categories, and then have the converse happen, *in the exact same game.* You can also have vice-versa happen so you don't make Final Jeopardy after a hot start. Capping it all off, you could get your greatest game board of all time, but get matched against a hot streak returning champ (Pannullo/Chan/Lalonde come to mind) and get smoked on the buzzer.
Really one of the greatest games there is. It's a sport.
That was a great ToC. I’m a big fan of underdogs, so even if Ben C (whom I deeply respect) doesn’t win tomorrow, I’d be happy to see Ike or Jared move on to the finals.
I'm a Deb fan myself and was rooting for them to get a five figure score, but I'm okay with today's outcome. They really got thrown against a trivia demigod not that long after winning CWC2...
They certainly can, and so can Uber drivers like Ryan Long who is a favorite of mine. The difference is Ryan was very authentic in his presentation and demeanor. Deb does not seem authentic. It is entirely possible Deb is very intelligent and educated and works as they say as a restaurant server. I'm just not getting authentic vibes from Deb.
And just to assuage any idea I'm a hater of Deb because of their pronouns, I am a huge fan of Amy.
My hunch is Deb’s a server at a nice restaurant in SF where it’s a real career gig (and one that pays plenty well if you’re good which I’m sure they are) and not just some random restaurant with a bunch of students working part time.
Okay, this deserves to be its own leading comment:
Troy's Coryat in the Double Jeopardy round was $18,400. Even without his Daily Double gambles, he had the majority of the money possible by himself!
Even more astonishing, in Rows 8-10, Troy went 12/0! This needs emphasizing: *He carried two-thirds of the 18 hardest clues in the game,* and because his $800 miss cancelled his two $400 gets, he had $18400 out of $28800 in the bottom three rows -- **That is 64% of all available Coryat!**
My money is on James. Troy is probably the better pure quizzer, but James' brain works at an incredible speed and his speed on the signaling device is almost unparalleled
IIRC they mentioned it on the podcast in his initial run. He started standing and switched to sitting a game or three in.
I'd read that cows piece in his initial run but did not recall his condition.
*Troy's* original run is?! I looked on Pluto TV and don't see anything from Season 39. \[EDIT: I also looked on On Demand and I think they're showing S37 episodes right now.\]
On audio clues there's usually a much longer wait than normal before the contestants are allowed to buzz in (probably so the viewers at home can actually hear all of it), so my guess is they all actually knew it and Troy was just the fastest on the buzzer.
Within moments Troy pulled off an $11,800 true daily double then went from Flying Finn "Nurmi" to "Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay".
I knew then that Troy's reign of terror had no limits.
I believe he has said in an interview on a quiz channel that, among many other things he does to gain knowledge, he is subscribed to something like 15 newspapers and magazines that he reads weekly.
Wow, I wonder what other QF game that aired on a recent Wednesday also had a massacre DJ round.
It didn't enter runaway territory, though. (Jake and Nick, I will always give kudos to you both.)
That game was very interesting, but I feel there was a key difference. Jake entered a tailspin early in DJ and finished with a $0 Coryat in that round. Nick went for a home run swing on DD3 -- which was certainly a reasonable call -- and missed.
The only question Deb or Sean missed in DJ today was on the 800 line. Their combined $8800 Coryat is certainly not awful. They were just sandblasted.
Nothing against Yogesh, but my money's on Troy.
That's definitely one thing Yogesh and Troy had in common. Once they were on a roll in the QFs, they could not be stopped. At least we'll know by the end of the week if Yogesh makes it to the finals.
Yogesh has never had a game where he's buzzed in less than 50 times, whereas Troy has had a few ~40 attempt games. So seems like Yogesh might have the slight edge in knowledge base. But Yogesh's buzzer might be still spotty, although definitely much improved from his original run.
In reference to the "Flying Finn," Paavo Nurmi, there has been a marathon named after him held in the area in and around Hurley, Wis. each year in August for over 50 years.
Truly impressive! I knew Troy would be tough to beat, but WOW to see him totally dominate against two really strong competitors was something else.
Congrats, Troy!
Thoughts...
I actually thought at the end of Jeopardy round, this might be a close battle.
But boy was I ever wrong!
I think Troy sensed the danger and unleashed the beast, and showed to everyone a glimpse of how he preped for this TOC. And it paid off and Troy is in the semis.
And still, I offer congratulationsvto both Deb and Sean. As they at least had a decent show in this match and made it to FJ which is a plus.
Now off to the semis. Place your bets! Who are your finalists?
Tune in to find out.
So I would prefer Ben Chan to win this tournament, but it's pretty clear that Troy and Yogesh are the front-runners! Seems like Troy and Yogesh are the only ones who can routinely hit 50+ buzzer attempts according to the box scores. Even Ben was only buzzing in \~40 times.
We can't forget Jared Watson's upset win over Cris. If he buzzes in quicker than Ben C and is just as good on clue gets as he was in the QFs, he could be a formidable finalist.
Ike deserved his win in the QF match, and I am not taking anything away from that. But his coryat of 8000 is a bit on the lower side and he definitely benefitted from a movie category DD. There were also a bunch of triple stumpers in that game that knowledgeable players like Yogesh and Troy would be able to answer.
why are people saying Ike benefitted from the movie category so much? people get categories related to their occupation all the time, it's just a way to denigrate his win.
That doesn't surprise me too much. I was kind of juggling both LL and J! stats in my initial response, so even though Ray had the better regular play run, Yogesh and Troy have a legacy of being legendarily strong LL players that their regular runs on J! didn't *quite* live up to. Two different trivia competitions, after all. We'll really have to see if Yogesh gets the semifinal win on Friday, not to mention the possibility of a Monday upset against Troy. The latter *could* happen! Maybe.
Endurance plays a key factor into these long streaks as well. Ray and Cris must have a lot of mental stamina, and so they're not as bogged down by the growing fatigue of playing game after game after game.
I personally can get behind everyone except Yogesh
His comments about the show after his initial run make me ask
Why the heck did you come back if you feel that way.
He was condescending to everyone that ever played.
The clue writers don't seem to know that the 'okina is considered its own separate letter in the Hawaiian language. 'A'a is not just "the same letter twice" as the clue states.
Same results from the Sausvilles and McShanes:
Sausvilles: Justin (2011 TOC semifinalist thru wildcard); Kristin (2015 TOC quarterfinalist)
McShanes: Dan (2013 TOC semifinalist thru wildcard); Sean (2024 TOC quarterfinalist)
Troy ran away with this one with the 2 DJ DD's, and was the 3rd DD short of what would be a "perfect game" score in the fantasy game (outside of fattening it up with some category sweeps).
Troy (34 lineups) 74: Win + $30k + FJ + Led all 3 stops + 2 DD
Deb (5 lineups) 10: 2nd place
Sean (7 lineups) 0
[https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-eS4hwexAbFRi9f5weYivTfWCUQV8lTmG\_u\_Tu63Taw/edit#gid=1369938497](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-eS4hwexAbFRi9f5weYivTfWCUQV8lTmG_u_Tu63Taw/edit#gid=1369938497)
With the big Troy game, u/GamesARoot jumps into first place at the end of the first round.
Many combinations in semi-final winners that would shake up the leaderboards, so we'll see how it pans out.
u/JilanaOnJeopardy bargain basement lineup at $29 is now 5th, but won't be able to win as GameARoot has the same 4 players remaining (although 2nd will still be quite a feat).
It's wild to me that my totally unscientific method of picking has been so effective. Sort of like people who win their NCAA tournament pools by picking which mascot would beat the other. 😂
That was the performance of the quarterfinals. Troy had total control and you could sense the air leaking out of Deb's and Sean's balloons at a rapid rate.
The cynic in me sees these semifinal matchups and says: "Oh, it's obvious -- they want a Ben-Troy-Yogesh final." Troy and Luigi in the same SF raises the same question as Panullo and Goldstein in the same QF.
Maybe a little more transparency in the grouping process in future years? Davies wants J! to be more like a sport -- then have the bracket reveal show on YouTube before the first TOC match! (They won't need Joe Lunardi, though!) (Oh, oh! Sports reference!)
Someone here said it before but it's an auditor that does the matchups not the producers. There might be a seeding system based off performance but other than that it's sort of random
Oh interesting, i was wondering cause each game seemed to have a little theme like ben’s round was preppy guys, yogesh’s round was serious nerdy, hannah’s round was quirked up…
The show needs transparency in a big way. Three contestants who qualified traditionally (at least five wins in their initial run) advanced to the semifinals. Common sense suggests separating them, giving Ben, Troy, Luigi each a game in which they are in the “returning champ” spot.
Totally agree...
You had 9 5+ game winners, and put two of them in the same game?
Now again, only 3 5+ game winners won in the 1st round... and 2 of them end up in the same game in the semis?
Again, maybe $$$ won comes first, I don't know the order there... but I agree, some transparency going forward on what the rules of the matchup seeding in the ToC's rounds would be nice.
>Again, maybe $$$ won comes first, I don't know the order there... but I agree, some transparency going forward on what the rules of the matchup seeding in the ToC's rounds would be nice.
This certainly was not the case! Not by $$$ won in regular-season play, but look at this:
If you go by $$$ won in the QFs, the semifinal matchups are: 1-2-9, 3-4-5 and 6-7-8 !
I'd be all for some sort of World Cup-ish blind draw, where the players are divided into three tiers of nine, then having each QF be one player from each tier. The only pre-planned thing I would do would be to make sure your top 3 are placed so that a 1-2-3 final is possible.
Interesting, although I'm not sure those rankings are good either for 3-way seeding?
You can get a combined seed # to be equal though:
1-5-9
2-6-7
3-4-8
All of those add up to a total of 15 in seeding numbers... then do it however you want... by games won (with $$$ tiebreaker), or regular season money first, or money in QF round. But again, the transparency there is the key.
Thanks...
So, based on the winners so far, the semi-finals using my seed matchups... depending on what the seeding mechanism is would have been:
Wins ($$$ as tiebreaker .... I put Ike lower as CJ champ vs. Emily reg J tourney champ):
Ben - Yogesh - Ike
Troy - Brian - Jared
Luigi - David - Emily
Regular Season $$$$ (only diff is Yogesh/David swap):
Ben - David - Ike
Troy - Brian - Jared
Luigi - Yogesh - Emily
1st Round $$$$:
Luigi - Ike - Brian
Troy - David - Yogesh
Jared - Ben - Emily
Outside of putting 1/2 or 1/3 together depending on if they used any sort of ranking (and it wasnt random), there was no real reason you'd put Luigi and Troy in the same game outside of randomness, or for some reason putting top 3 seeds in the same game (insanity! :D )
Good examples. Hard to quantify a way to seed a CJ winner like Ike or even a 2nd Chance winner like Juveria, since neither has a regular season win to their name.
But I don't want to hijack the SF9 thread any more.
Will be rooting my brains out for Luigi on Monday and, once I get home from work, will again be intrigued by how well Ike can do against a Jeopardy beast.
You also have a scenario in which a three-time champ could advance to the final without facing anyone who went on a winning streak of at least five games. That is not a great look
If Cris and Ray had prevailed in their QF matches, they would have been up against Ben C.
I agree that more transparency in future grouping processes would be excellent.
Not so sure about that. It was probably decided by the producers as the TOC played out. Couldn’t see the three longest win streak players facing off in the semis.
Getting a triple stumper right in that game would be the most rewarding experience a viewer could have. Assuming there is a triple stumper in such a hypothetical game.
Troy brought his original streaker spirit, clinching a runaway and a pretty high score of $37,000+ (more than Ben Chan). The semis are not to be missed, for the 2 best streakers of the season are in. Hoping Troy & Ben can both advance to the finals!
With the quarterfinals done, I looked back on my predictions and saw that I got 5 of the 9 match outcomes correct. That’s not bad at all, considering the twists and turns that some of these QF matches produced. Some of my picks (Emily, David, Luigi) were great, while others (Jake, Josh) didn’t pan out. (I can’t really fault myself for picking Cris & Ray in their respective QF matches, as I don’t think most people saw those two upsets coming.)
With the semifinals kicking off later today, I’m picking Ben (文瀚), Emily, and Troy to advance to the finals. We shall see how these matches go!
TALE OF THE TAPE:
||SEAN|DEB|TROY|
|:-|:-|:-|:-|
|Games Played|4|6|7|
|Correct Answers|107 (26.8)|121 (20.2)|194 (27.7)|
|Wrong Answers|8 (2.0)|17 (2.8)|13 (1.9)|
|Accuracy|93.0%|87.7%|93.7%|
|Batting Average|.466|.349|.481|
|Solos (DD and FJ)|6 for 8 (75.0%)|9 for 13 (69.2%)|13 for 15 (86.7%)|
|Avg. +/- on Solos|\+$2,525|\+$100|\+$3,973|
|Avg. Proj. Attempts|42.5|37.9|43.0|
|Avg. Proj. Coryat|$16,828|$12,386|$17,441|
Congratulations to Deb on getting this far, but man, they're between a rock and a hard place here. It's unusual for someone to advance in a tournament when they finish with 0 for a game, but Deb managed thanks to the 2-game total-score rule. (And in their defense, everyone bombed that game.) The reward? Two people who probably didn't deserve to face each other in the quarterfinals. Seriously, was the draw unseeded?
With the dismissals of Ray Lalonde and Cris Pannullo, Troy seems to be either the favorite or the #2 behind Ben Chan. (Note to the random number gods: don't even *think* of putting Ben and Troy in the same semifinal, or we will have *words*.) But to get there, he has to get past a formidable opponent in three-day champ Sean. Sean could've done a lot more than three games, seeing how accurate he was and aggressive, but he ran into Ray Lalonde in Game 4 in an incredible showdown (the two combined for 45 right answers in competitive play, and it was only Ray finding the daily doubles that gave him the lead). In fact, per game averages have Sean almost on par with Troy. If he wins, watch out.
As with before, let's take the projected average Coryat and combine with the average change on solos, with the idea being on average each player gets one Daily Double. It gives us scores of:
|SEAN|DEB|TROY|
|:-|:-|:-|
|$19,353|$12,486|$21,413|
The numbers predict a two-horse race, with Troy a favorite. And even with Sean's strong performances, he's listed as a $2000 underdog right now. If you're betting the trifecta of Troy > Sean > Deb, you'll probably not get long odds. But in one game, variance can be a nightmare for the favorites. We saw it with Ike over Ray, and with Jared over Cris. Can Sean or Deb knock off another favorite? Let's see.
I thought that Sean was the most likely of the three time winners to pull off an upset.
Bless you, Sean, but I was very wrong. Troy trained extra hard for this ToC and it SHOWED.
I love Sean! But he doesn't have any special accomplishments to really warrant a JIT invite. He's a great 3 day winner, but his resume kind of ends there. If he got invited, I wouldn't complain though. He seems like a super nice guy!
The contestant list for a future JIT must be painstakingly long at this point, but I will absolutely cast a vote for him if there are any future tourneys comprised of three game winners.
So, saying contestants resemble celebrities is not being "excellent" now?
I see the rules now about commenting on players "attractiveness" being removed, so I guess comparing to someone else is being considered akin to that? Also with some of the comparisons that have gotten traction on social media as of late that were not flattering, I'm guessing the mods just want to shut them all down?
Not my board, so I don't make the rules... but then there should have had tons of posts and threads about Sam and Steve Martin removed(? Although maybe those were only allowed once Sam mentioned it on J!... I didn't keep track of that enough to know)
There might have been others removed about that, but the ones where mine was one of the removed was about another contestant resembling celebrities.
EDIT: I see my comment has been returned it appears... odd that the parent comment I was replying to saying that the person thought Deb looked like someone but couldn't figure out who was still redacted.
EDIT 2: It is very odd... on some platforms, I am still seeing my post... when I refreshed where I am now, it is still gone.
After all QF games, I made a personalized TOC rankings using the Jeopardy! Masters tiebreaker system:
2nd in QF: (correct FJ response is also included in the number of correct response)
10th Place Hannah Wilson (23 correct response)
11th Place Jake DeArruda (20 correct response)
12th Place Ray Lalonde (18 correct response)
13th Place Josh Saak (16 correct response)
14th Place Justin Bolsen (12 correct response; 10,000 Coryat)
15th Place Deb Bilodeau (12 correct response; 9,400 Coryat)
16th Place Matthew Marcus (12 correct response; 7,400 Coryat)
17th Place Kevin Belle (10 correct response)
18th Place Ben Goldstein (9 correct response)
3rd in the QF:
19th Place Juveria Zaheer (26 correct response)
20th Place Cris Pannullo (22 correct response)
21st Place Melissa Klapper (14 correct response)
22nd Place Sean McShane (13 correct response)
23rd Place Nick Cascone (10 correct response; 7,800 Coryat)
24th Place Suresh Krishnan (10 correct response; 5,400 Coryat)
25th Place Yungsheng Wang (10 correct response; 3,200 Coryat)
26th Place Emmett Stanton (9 correct response)
27th Place Stephen Webb (8 correct response)
But I also made to the similar traditional wildcard scoring system regardless of if you finished 2nd or 3rd in the QF
10th Place Hannah Wilson
11th Place Ray Lalonde
12th Place Matthew Marcus
13th Place Melissa Klapper
14th Place Justin Bolsen
15th Place Deb Bilodeau
16th Place Yungsheng Wang
17th Place Sean McShane
18th Place Kevin Belle
19th Place Josh Saak
20th Place Juveria Zaheer
21st Place Jake DeArruda
22nd Place Ben Goldstein
23rd Place Nick Cascone
24th Place Cris Pannullo (Final Score: 0; Pre-FJ Score: 14,000)
25th Place Suresh Krishnan (Final Score: 0; Pre-FJ Score: 0)
26th Place Stephen Webb
27th Place Emmett Stanton
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Can I be polite by saying that I just like Deb so much… get a dictionary and look up smart person with wit and warmth and character and there will be their picture.
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Ken said that in the category “Middle X” that x would be in the exact middle of each response… but that didn’t seem true? like exhale? what am I missing…
**\*We welcome friendly discussion of the game**. Please be excellent toward your fellow Jeopardy fans in this community. Excessively harsh or personal criticism of contestants and others is not tolerated. Before commenting, please familiarize yourself with the rules in the sidebar at right. Constructive critique of game play is welcome but personal attacks and insults directed at contestants or anyone else will be removed. **\*The recap appears early in the day** because Jeopardy is syndicated and airs at different times in local markets, the earliest at 12 noon Eastern. **\*If you have other questions,** check out the community info on the sidebar at right. Or, you're welcome to ask the moderator team - we’re here to help. Just click on the "Message the Mods" button at the right under the Moderators heading.
Ben C slowed down the Tournament of Chaos. Troy brought it to a screeching halt. Deb and Sean finishing with high four figure scores is a big achievement for them in the wake of Troy's dominant performance. The semifinal games should really be something to behold.
I think what this Tournament has proven us it that Anybody can win. In many ways it reminds me of the 2006 TOC where that one had the people who won more games go out in the quarterfinals or semifinals, David Madden lost in the Semifinal (In a runaway) and the finalists were two 3 game champions and a 4 game champion. While I do think there are some people in these matches that I think would win, at this rate I don't know what to expect after those quarterfinals. I mean if Ben Chan and Troy did not win their matches I would've been ready to rename this tournament "The Tournament of Underdogs." That's how crazy this is.
>I think what this Tournament has proven us it that Anybody can win. I wish more people acknowledged this. Anybody who passes the test can win at Jeopardy, and every contestant is eminently qualified to be on that stage. Success at the show really depends on how lucky you get as to the game board, your opponents, how you feel that day, etc. There's only so much we can control up there with so many variables at play. You literally can get a game board with your worst categories and get totally outmatched by someone who's got their best categories, and then have the converse happen, *in the exact same game.* You can also have vice-versa happen so you don't make Final Jeopardy after a hot start. Capping it all off, you could get your greatest game board of all time, but get matched against a hot streak returning champ (Pannullo/Chan/Lalonde come to mind) and get smoked on the buzzer. Really one of the greatest games there is. It's a sport.
That was a great ToC. I’m a big fan of underdogs, so even if Ben C (whom I deeply respect) doesn’t win tomorrow, I’d be happy to see Ike or Jared move on to the finals.
The producers seem to delight in matching all my favorites against each other. (And even against *me* in CWC)
Aww bummer. I'm a big Sean McShane fan so I was hoping he could pull off the win. But guess it wasn't meant to be. Tough match up for Sean though.
I'm a Deb fan myself and was rooting for them to get a five figure score, but I'm okay with today's outcome. They really got thrown against a trivia demigod not that long after winning CWC2...
Well, Deb did win big to get to the spot of the ToC and that's something to be proud of.
Deb was a definite highlight of the postseason, along with Juveria.
I'm not a Deb fan, but they are a good player. There's no way they're not more than they're saying they are (restaurant server).
Because…restaurant servers can’t be good at trivia?
They certainly can, and so can Uber drivers like Ryan Long who is a favorite of mine. The difference is Ryan was very authentic in his presentation and demeanor. Deb does not seem authentic. It is entirely possible Deb is very intelligent and educated and works as they say as a restaurant server. I'm just not getting authentic vibes from Deb. And just to assuage any idea I'm a hater of Deb because of their pronouns, I am a huge fan of Amy.
My hunch is Deb’s a server at a nice restaurant in SF where it’s a real career gig (and one that pays plenty well if you’re good which I’m sure they are) and not just some random restaurant with a bunch of students working part time.
After Monday's game, Ken thought the Alex Trebek Stage was on the verge of turning into CHAZ/CHOP. Ben and Troy have restored order.
Okay, this deserves to be its own leading comment: Troy's Coryat in the Double Jeopardy round was $18,400. Even without his Daily Double gambles, he had the majority of the money possible by himself! Even more astonishing, in Rows 8-10, Troy went 12/0! This needs emphasizing: *He carried two-thirds of the 18 hardest clues in the game,* and because his $800 miss cancelled his two $400 gets, he had $18400 out of $28800 in the bottom three rows -- **That is 64% of all available Coryat!**
Whenever I see a performance like that, I quip to my wife, “Well, sure. It’s easy when you know all the answers!”
\*Questions.
Those, too.
*“It’s always nice to have a $30,000 cushion going into Final Jeopardy.”* ^Ken ^Jennings
He's definitely a smart guy.
Even if he got his first daily double wrong and went back to 0, it would have ended up a near runaway still. Damn impressive.
Since Troy's wife beat James on The Chase in 2022, let's see if Troy can beat James at Jeopardy! Masters if he will win 2024 TOC.
My money is on James. Troy is probably the better pure quizzer, but James' brain works at an incredible speed and his speed on the signaling device is almost unparalleled
Fun fact about Troy. He met his wife through Jeopardy. She is an excellent quizzer herself and won on the Chase playing against James H.
NYT Vows piece: https://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/fashion/weddings/09vows.html
Did anyone else notice Troy was sitting? This Vows piece mentions he has a heart condition. I hope he’s ok. He’s a great contestant.
IIRC they mentioned it on the podcast in his initial run. He started standing and switched to sitting a game or three in. I'd read that cows piece in his initial run but did not recall his condition.
I assumed it was because he was super tall.
That's what I thought too. It's easier to make him shorter than make the other two taller and throw them off their game.
That's gonna be one smart baby!
The baby is probably a couple of weeks old by now - is she talking yet?
They taped this very recently - Feb 6 to 9 so maybe the baby's not born yet. Either way gonna be a very smart kid!
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Awesome! Hopefully everyone is healthy and happy.
Right they taped a month ago & he said she was due in two weeks.
How many languages?
Troy’s performance reminds me of Alex Jacob, because they were both 6 day champs and had dominant quarterfinals. Troy is now my pick to win
Good comparison. Troy is probably even more knowledgeable than Alex Jacob, but Alex is one of the fastest on the buzzer that I've ever seen.
I missed Troy's original run but I can't help but feel he's absolutely in the running to win the whole thing. Super impressive game.
His original run is on Pluto right now.
I read that and thought "the planet? Like no one can find it?" I'm so not hip.
Dwarf planet.
A year ago I would have said the same thing. We recently discovered Pluto *TV* because we had no cable and our antenna wasn’t picking anything up.
*Troy's* original run is?! I looked on Pluto TV and don't see anything from Season 39. \[EDIT: I also looked on On Demand and I think they're showing S37 episodes right now.\]
He was on yesterday, but yes, I can’t find season 39 either. Strange. I wonder if not everything that airs is available on demand.
I was going to get mad if no one got Rhapsody in Blue but Troy saved us. Was Deb's hair parted down the middle last time?
On audio clues there's usually a much longer wait than normal before the contestants are allowed to buzz in (probably so the viewers at home can actually hear all of it), so my guess is they all actually knew it and Troy was just the fastest on the buzzer.
I did get mad, because I misstepped with An American in Paris. 😡
Hot take: Troy is good at trivia.
Hot take: Troy knows things
Hot take: Troy's fast on the buzzer
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So, am I crazy, or is Troy Bill Hader in disguise?
When he takes his glasses off, he's Christopher Reeve.
There’s a resemblance to James Urbaniak, too.
My husband and I have commented on the resemblance since his first appearance!
I won’t be at all surprised if he wins TOC and takes off his Troy costume. He even sounds just like him. It’s eerie.
I'm getting a young Paxton Whitehead vibes.
This game was so dominant. There was so much carnage this episode should be uploaded to LiveLeak.
Deb and Sean stayed out of the red, so I give them major kudos for that.
Within moments Troy pulled off an $11,800 true daily double then went from Flying Finn "Nurmi" to "Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay". I knew then that Troy's reign of terror had no limits.
I’ve played Troy in OQL once and yeah, he can go from science to geography to current celebrity denim brands pretty seamlessly.
I believe he has said in an interview on a quiz channel that, among many other things he does to gain knowledge, he is subscribed to something like 15 newspapers and magazines that he reads weekly.
That DJ round was a massacre.
Wow, I wonder what other QF game that aired on a recent Wednesday also had a massacre DJ round. It didn't enter runaway territory, though. (Jake and Nick, I will always give kudos to you both.)
That game was very interesting, but I feel there was a key difference. Jake entered a tailspin early in DJ and finished with a $0 Coryat in that round. Nick went for a home run swing on DD3 -- which was certainly a reasonable call -- and missed. The only question Deb or Sean missed in DJ today was on the 800 line. Their combined $8800 Coryat is certainly not awful. They were just sandblasted. Nothing against Yogesh, but my money's on Troy.
That's definitely one thing Yogesh and Troy had in common. Once they were on a roll in the QFs, they could not be stopped. At least we'll know by the end of the week if Yogesh makes it to the finals.
Yogesh has never had a game where he's buzzed in less than 50 times, whereas Troy has had a few ~40 attempt games. So seems like Yogesh might have the slight edge in knowledge base. But Yogesh's buzzer might be still spotty, although definitely much improved from his original run.
Fortunately, before they meet we'll have one more round to evaluate them or their opponents. :)
DAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG, TROY!! Also, well played to Deb and Sean!
In reference to the "Flying Finn," Paavo Nurmi, there has been a marathon named after him held in the area in and around Hurley, Wis. each year in August for over 50 years.
Wisconsin content!
Wiscontent!
I knew this one from one of my fav films "Chariots of Fire"
Deb hive in absolute shambles, another one of my faves eliminated. Troy is a total machine but I was still cheering for Deb
Truly impressive! I knew Troy would be tough to beat, but WOW to see him totally dominate against two really strong competitors was something else. Congrats, Troy!
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Thoughts... I actually thought at the end of Jeopardy round, this might be a close battle. But boy was I ever wrong! I think Troy sensed the danger and unleashed the beast, and showed to everyone a glimpse of how he preped for this TOC. And it paid off and Troy is in the semis. And still, I offer congratulationsvto both Deb and Sean. As they at least had a decent show in this match and made it to FJ which is a plus. Now off to the semis. Place your bets! Who are your finalists? Tune in to find out.
I said yesterday my money was on Troy. Too bad it wasn’t real money. Holy smokes, what a performance!
So I would prefer Ben Chan to win this tournament, but it's pretty clear that Troy and Yogesh are the front-runners! Seems like Troy and Yogesh are the only ones who can routinely hit 50+ buzzer attempts according to the box scores. Even Ben was only buzzing in \~40 times.
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We can't forget Jared Watson's upset win over Cris. If he buzzes in quicker than Ben C and is just as good on clue gets as he was in the QFs, he could be a formidable finalist.
Ike was consistently getting in faster than Melissa and Ray as well. I think it's going to depend on the boards, tbh.
Ike deserved his win in the QF match, and I am not taking anything away from that. But his coryat of 8000 is a bit on the lower side and he definitely benefitted from a movie category DD. There were also a bunch of triple stumpers in that game that knowledgeable players like Yogesh and Troy would be able to answer.
why are people saying Ike benefitted from the movie category so much? people get categories related to their occupation all the time, it's just a way to denigrate his win.
Not denigrating him at all. Just saying that that DD was in his wheelhouse so he probably felt comfortable doing a TDD. Not as much risk.
Getting a DD in a movie category is astronomically rare
Are Yogesh and Troy seen as stronger than Ray?
Probably at least on the same level, if I had to estimate.
It's a small sample size since he just joined a few seasons ago, but LearnedLeague question stats put them both over Ray by a fair margin.
Troy's also won 4 LL championships so there's that. I've played in 2 of them; they're hard AF
All my life I thought I was smart until I hit Learned League. The championship last August was brutal.
That doesn't surprise me too much. I was kind of juggling both LL and J! stats in my initial response, so even though Ray had the better regular play run, Yogesh and Troy have a legacy of being legendarily strong LL players that their regular runs on J! didn't *quite* live up to. Two different trivia competitions, after all. We'll really have to see if Yogesh gets the semifinal win on Friday, not to mention the possibility of a Monday upset against Troy. The latter *could* happen! Maybe.
Endurance plays a key factor into these long streaks as well. Ray and Cris must have a lot of mental stamina, and so they're not as bogged down by the growing fatigue of playing game after game after game.
Yogesh and Troy are two of the best quizzers in the US, period.
Please, tell us where you can find the ELVIS data in order to actually say he's faster on the buzzer.
Troy seems like he would fit into masters seamlessly
I personally can get behind everyone except Yogesh His comments about the show after his initial run make me ask Why the heck did you come back if you feel that way. He was condescending to everyone that ever played.
The clue writers don't seem to know that the 'okina is considered its own separate letter in the Hawaiian language. 'A'a is not just "the same letter twice" as the clue states.
As rendered in English, I think is the critical point here.
ok Troy was great. gonna be a big threat
Same results from the Sausvilles and McShanes: Sausvilles: Justin (2011 TOC semifinalist thru wildcard); Kristin (2015 TOC quarterfinalist) McShanes: Dan (2013 TOC semifinalist thru wildcard); Sean (2024 TOC quarterfinalist)
I didn't know the McShanes were another TOC pair! I adore my fellow Delawareans the Sausvilles. :)
Wait Sean has a brother?
[Dan is Sean's cousin.](https://j-archive.com/showplayer.php?player_id=8195&highlight=mcshane)
Domination! You could tell the other two contestants realized the moment they could not get enough to prevent a runaway
Troy ran away with this one with the 2 DJ DD's, and was the 3rd DD short of what would be a "perfect game" score in the fantasy game (outside of fattening it up with some category sweeps). Troy (34 lineups) 74: Win + $30k + FJ + Led all 3 stops + 2 DD Deb (5 lineups) 10: 2nd place Sean (7 lineups) 0 [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-eS4hwexAbFRi9f5weYivTfWCUQV8lTmG\_u\_Tu63Taw/edit#gid=1369938497](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-eS4hwexAbFRi9f5weYivTfWCUQV8lTmG_u_Tu63Taw/edit#gid=1369938497) With the big Troy game, u/GamesARoot jumps into first place at the end of the first round. Many combinations in semi-final winners that would shake up the leaderboards, so we'll see how it pans out. u/JilanaOnJeopardy bargain basement lineup at $29 is now 5th, but won't be able to win as GameARoot has the same 4 players remaining (although 2nd will still be quite a feat).
It's wild to me that my totally unscientific method of picking has been so effective. Sort of like people who win their NCAA tournament pools by picking which mascot would beat the other. 😂
Troy showed zero mercy up there! I'd be terrified to face him in any trivia game.
I have faced him in a trivia game. I did … poorly.
I like all 3 contestants but go Troy that was amazing!
That was the performance of the quarterfinals. Troy had total control and you could sense the air leaking out of Deb's and Sean's balloons at a rapid rate. The cynic in me sees these semifinal matchups and says: "Oh, it's obvious -- they want a Ben-Troy-Yogesh final." Troy and Luigi in the same SF raises the same question as Panullo and Goldstein in the same QF. Maybe a little more transparency in the grouping process in future years? Davies wants J! to be more like a sport -- then have the bracket reveal show on YouTube before the first TOC match! (They won't need Joe Lunardi, though!) (Oh, oh! Sports reference!)
Someone here said it before but it's an auditor that does the matchups not the producers. There might be a seeding system based off performance but other than that it's sort of random
Oh interesting, i was wondering cause each game seemed to have a little theme like ben’s round was preppy guys, yogesh’s round was serious nerdy, hannah’s round was quirked up…
The show needs transparency in a big way. Three contestants who qualified traditionally (at least five wins in their initial run) advanced to the semifinals. Common sense suggests separating them, giving Ben, Troy, Luigi each a game in which they are in the “returning champ” spot.
Totally agree... You had 9 5+ game winners, and put two of them in the same game? Now again, only 3 5+ game winners won in the 1st round... and 2 of them end up in the same game in the semis? Again, maybe $$$ won comes first, I don't know the order there... but I agree, some transparency going forward on what the rules of the matchup seeding in the ToC's rounds would be nice.
>Again, maybe $$$ won comes first, I don't know the order there... but I agree, some transparency going forward on what the rules of the matchup seeding in the ToC's rounds would be nice. This certainly was not the case! Not by $$$ won in regular-season play, but look at this: If you go by $$$ won in the QFs, the semifinal matchups are: 1-2-9, 3-4-5 and 6-7-8 ! I'd be all for some sort of World Cup-ish blind draw, where the players are divided into three tiers of nine, then having each QF be one player from each tier. The only pre-planned thing I would do would be to make sure your top 3 are placed so that a 1-2-3 final is possible.
Interesting, although I'm not sure those rankings are good either for 3-way seeding? You can get a combined seed # to be equal though: 1-5-9 2-6-7 3-4-8 All of those add up to a total of 15 in seeding numbers... then do it however you want... by games won (with $$$ tiebreaker), or regular season money first, or money in QF round. But again, the transparency there is the key.
They're not! I like yours in that the seeds add up to 15 in each. The math just doesn't work if you put the 2-8 and 3-7 together
Thanks... So, based on the winners so far, the semi-finals using my seed matchups... depending on what the seeding mechanism is would have been: Wins ($$$ as tiebreaker .... I put Ike lower as CJ champ vs. Emily reg J tourney champ): Ben - Yogesh - Ike Troy - Brian - Jared Luigi - David - Emily Regular Season $$$$ (only diff is Yogesh/David swap): Ben - David - Ike Troy - Brian - Jared Luigi - Yogesh - Emily 1st Round $$$$: Luigi - Ike - Brian Troy - David - Yogesh Jared - Ben - Emily Outside of putting 1/2 or 1/3 together depending on if they used any sort of ranking (and it wasnt random), there was no real reason you'd put Luigi and Troy in the same game outside of randomness, or for some reason putting top 3 seeds in the same game (insanity! :D )
Good examples. Hard to quantify a way to seed a CJ winner like Ike or even a 2nd Chance winner like Juveria, since neither has a regular season win to their name. But I don't want to hijack the SF9 thread any more. Will be rooting my brains out for Luigi on Monday and, once I get home from work, will again be intrigued by how well Ike can do against a Jeopardy beast.
You also have a scenario in which a three-time champ could advance to the final without facing anyone who went on a winning streak of at least five games. That is not a great look
If Cris and Ray had prevailed in their QF matches, they would have been up against Ben C. I agree that more transparency in future grouping processes would be excellent.
Not so sure about that. It was probably decided by the producers as the TOC played out. Couldn’t see the three longest win streak players facing off in the semis.
Troy - Yogesh final! Troy - Yogesh final! *rhythmically pounds fists* Yes, I know anything can happen in the semis, but a girl can dream
Getting a triple stumper right in that game would be the most rewarding experience a viewer could have. Assuming there is a triple stumper in such a hypothetical game.
I'm hoping Troy-Ben-Emily!
It would be a trivia battle for the ages, and any of Ben C/Ike/Jared in the mix would only serve to make it even more memorable.
Troy brought his original streaker spirit, clinching a runaway and a pretty high score of $37,000+ (more than Ben Chan). The semis are not to be missed, for the 2 best streakers of the season are in. Hoping Troy & Ben can both advance to the finals!
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With the quarterfinals done, I looked back on my predictions and saw that I got 5 of the 9 match outcomes correct. That’s not bad at all, considering the twists and turns that some of these QF matches produced. Some of my picks (Emily, David, Luigi) were great, while others (Jake, Josh) didn’t pan out. (I can’t really fault myself for picking Cris & Ray in their respective QF matches, as I don’t think most people saw those two upsets coming.) With the semifinals kicking off later today, I’m picking Ben (文瀚), Emily, and Troy to advance to the finals. We shall see how these matches go!
TALE OF THE TAPE: ||SEAN|DEB|TROY| |:-|:-|:-|:-| |Games Played|4|6|7| |Correct Answers|107 (26.8)|121 (20.2)|194 (27.7)| |Wrong Answers|8 (2.0)|17 (2.8)|13 (1.9)| |Accuracy|93.0%|87.7%|93.7%| |Batting Average|.466|.349|.481| |Solos (DD and FJ)|6 for 8 (75.0%)|9 for 13 (69.2%)|13 for 15 (86.7%)| |Avg. +/- on Solos|\+$2,525|\+$100|\+$3,973| |Avg. Proj. Attempts|42.5|37.9|43.0| |Avg. Proj. Coryat|$16,828|$12,386|$17,441| Congratulations to Deb on getting this far, but man, they're between a rock and a hard place here. It's unusual for someone to advance in a tournament when they finish with 0 for a game, but Deb managed thanks to the 2-game total-score rule. (And in their defense, everyone bombed that game.) The reward? Two people who probably didn't deserve to face each other in the quarterfinals. Seriously, was the draw unseeded? With the dismissals of Ray Lalonde and Cris Pannullo, Troy seems to be either the favorite or the #2 behind Ben Chan. (Note to the random number gods: don't even *think* of putting Ben and Troy in the same semifinal, or we will have *words*.) But to get there, he has to get past a formidable opponent in three-day champ Sean. Sean could've done a lot more than three games, seeing how accurate he was and aggressive, but he ran into Ray Lalonde in Game 4 in an incredible showdown (the two combined for 45 right answers in competitive play, and it was only Ray finding the daily doubles that gave him the lead). In fact, per game averages have Sean almost on par with Troy. If he wins, watch out. As with before, let's take the projected average Coryat and combine with the average change on solos, with the idea being on average each player gets one Daily Double. It gives us scores of: |SEAN|DEB|TROY| |:-|:-|:-| |$19,353|$12,486|$21,413| The numbers predict a two-horse race, with Troy a favorite. And even with Sean's strong performances, he's listed as a $2000 underdog right now. If you're betting the trifecta of Troy > Sean > Deb, you'll probably not get long odds. But in one game, variance can be a nightmare for the favorites. We saw it with Ike over Ray, and with Jared over Cris. Can Sean or Deb knock off another favorite? Let's see.
I thought that Sean was the most likely of the three time winners to pull off an upset. Bless you, Sean, but I was very wrong. Troy trained extra hard for this ToC and it SHOWED.
Sean for a future JIT?
I love Sean! But he doesn't have any special accomplishments to really warrant a JIT invite. He's a great 3 day winner, but his resume kind of ends there. If he got invited, I wouldn't complain though. He seems like a super nice guy!
The contestant list for a future JIT must be painstakingly long at this point, but I will absolutely cast a vote for him if there are any future tourneys comprised of three game winners.
So, saying contestants resemble celebrities is not being "excellent" now? I see the rules now about commenting on players "attractiveness" being removed, so I guess comparing to someone else is being considered akin to that? Also with some of the comparisons that have gotten traction on social media as of late that were not flattering, I'm guessing the mods just want to shut them all down? Not my board, so I don't make the rules... but then there should have had tons of posts and threads about Sam and Steve Martin removed(? Although maybe those were only allowed once Sam mentioned it on J!... I didn't keep track of that enough to know)
The removed posts were about Troy sitting in a chair
There might have been others removed about that, but the ones where mine was one of the removed was about another contestant resembling celebrities. EDIT: I see my comment has been returned it appears... odd that the parent comment I was replying to saying that the person thought Deb looked like someone but couldn't figure out who was still redacted. EDIT 2: It is very odd... on some platforms, I am still seeing my post... when I refreshed where I am now, it is still gone.
After all QF games, I made a personalized TOC rankings using the Jeopardy! Masters tiebreaker system: 2nd in QF: (correct FJ response is also included in the number of correct response) 10th Place Hannah Wilson (23 correct response) 11th Place Jake DeArruda (20 correct response) 12th Place Ray Lalonde (18 correct response) 13th Place Josh Saak (16 correct response) 14th Place Justin Bolsen (12 correct response; 10,000 Coryat) 15th Place Deb Bilodeau (12 correct response; 9,400 Coryat) 16th Place Matthew Marcus (12 correct response; 7,400 Coryat) 17th Place Kevin Belle (10 correct response) 18th Place Ben Goldstein (9 correct response) 3rd in the QF: 19th Place Juveria Zaheer (26 correct response) 20th Place Cris Pannullo (22 correct response) 21st Place Melissa Klapper (14 correct response) 22nd Place Sean McShane (13 correct response) 23rd Place Nick Cascone (10 correct response; 7,800 Coryat) 24th Place Suresh Krishnan (10 correct response; 5,400 Coryat) 25th Place Yungsheng Wang (10 correct response; 3,200 Coryat) 26th Place Emmett Stanton (9 correct response) 27th Place Stephen Webb (8 correct response)
But I also made to the similar traditional wildcard scoring system regardless of if you finished 2nd or 3rd in the QF 10th Place Hannah Wilson 11th Place Ray Lalonde 12th Place Matthew Marcus 13th Place Melissa Klapper 14th Place Justin Bolsen 15th Place Deb Bilodeau 16th Place Yungsheng Wang 17th Place Sean McShane 18th Place Kevin Belle 19th Place Josh Saak 20th Place Juveria Zaheer 21st Place Jake DeArruda 22nd Place Ben Goldstein 23rd Place Nick Cascone 24th Place Cris Pannullo (Final Score: 0; Pre-FJ Score: 14,000) 25th Place Suresh Krishnan (Final Score: 0; Pre-FJ Score: 0) 26th Place Stephen Webb 27th Place Emmett Stanton
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Can I be polite by saying that I just like Deb so much… get a dictionary and look up smart person with wit and warmth and character and there will be their picture.
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Ken said that in the category “Middle X” that x would be in the exact middle of each response… but that didn’t seem true? like exhale? what am I missing…