'Jeopardy!' Tournament of Champions: Amy Schneider, Sam Buttrey and Andrew He's first finals game comes down to big bets

Raechal Shewfelt
Updated
(Photo: Jeopardy.com)
(Photo: Jeopardy.com)

Warning: This post contains spoilers.

On the first day of the finals in the Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions, whip-smart past champions Sam Buttrey, Amy Schneider and Andrew He seriously brought it. While all hail from Northern California, host Ken Jennings noted that they are from three different generations: Buttrey is a Baby Boomer, Schneider is a Gen Xer, and He is a millennial.

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And He and Schneider had a history going into the game. Schneider is the player who beat He in November 2021, ending his five-game streak.

Fans were pumped, no matter who they wanted to win.

The first round was super competitive and, by the end of it, the game was tight: $5,000 for Schneider, $4,800 for Buttrey and $4,200 for He. One thing that could have made a difference was the $800 clue in the category of "At the Mall of America," but that one ended up being a triple stumper. The clue was: "Fabletics, co-founded by this actress." Only He buzzed in and answered, "Alba," but the correct answer was Kate Hudson.

He's total included his winnings from the first Daily Double, which he answered correctly. He selected another one in the second round and, like he did in his semifinal game, he made a big bet — all of it — that paid off. While Buttrey snagged the other Double and bet big, too, he answered it incorrectly.

After the Double Jeopardy! round, Buttrey was in third place, with $12,000, while Schneider had $14,600 and He had $18,800. But then Schneider missed the Final Jeopardy! question. Buttrey and He both answered it correctly, but Buttrey had bet nothing. Not surprisingly to anyone who's been watching the TOC, He had wagered a cool $10,401. Final scores: Schneider $4,600; Buttrey $12,000; and $29,201 for He.

As Jennings noted, under new rules for the Tournament of Champions, the winner of the $250,000 prize is the first player in the finals to win three games, so it'll continue through at least Wednesday.

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