It is only night two of the 2025 Jeopardy! Invitational Tournament and there is already beef. Three more all-time Jeopardy! champs took their places behind the podium on Tuesday, February 18, after Matt Amodio, 2022 Tournament of Champions semifinalist, won round one, securing his spot in the next round by beating Hannah Wilson, an 8-time champion in Season 39 in 2023 and 2024 TOC quarterfinalist, and Doug Molitor, a novelist from Altadena, California.
In game two, Margaret Shelton, a homemaker from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania faced off against Jaskaran Singh, a consultant from Plano, Texas, and Skyler Hornback, a chemical engineering Ph.D. student originally from Sonora, Kentucky. But, Shelton’s beef wasn’t with her current contestants.
During introductions, host Ken Jennings brought up the beef.
“I understand you are here because you have beef. You want to air grievances,” he said.
“Yes. The last time I was here Brian Chang snaked a question about Pittsburgh out from under me,” Shelton informed Jennings. “Roberto Clemente. I knew it. It was in the palm of my hand to be a hero.”
“A hero for Pittsburgh,” Jennings said.
Shelton agreed with him as the game show host informed her that Chang is actually sitting in the audience right now. The camera panned to him, he waved, and the audience laughed.
“Did you know that he was here just to shoutout his unfairness?” he asked.
“Oh, Absolutely,” Shelton said. “We’re in communications.”
“That’s good to know. Well, if there’s any Roberto Clemente material, Brian, you are not allowed to shout it out from the stands today. Mums the word,” Jennings said.
Shelton and Chang faced off against each other in the 2022 Tournament of Champions, along with Tyler Rhode. Shelton came in second and Chang came in third, so despite him stealing a clue from her, she still beat him. Rhode won the competition.
However, Shelton may have beef with one of her current contestants because she didn’t take home the win. In fact, she was in last place after the first commercial break with $400. Singh, first National College Championship winner, was leading with $3,600 and Hornback, who was on Jeopardy! Kids Week in 2013, had $2,200. Shelton only answered three questions correctly. By the end of the first round, Shelton weaseled her way to second place with $2,800, but Hornback was not far behind her with $2,700. Singh had $5,600.
With the way the contestants answered the questions (going in order), the Daily Doubles were buried, Shelton bet too much on the third Daily Double, making her too far out of contention if she got it wrong, and she did.
Going into the final, Shelton was in last place with $6,200. Hornback wasn’t far behind with $7,100. However, Singh blew the other two out of the water with $21,800. Singh was the only contestant to answer the final Jeopardy! question correctly.
The category was “Supreme Court Decisions.” “This landmark case was reported in the N.Y. Times not on the front page but on the ‘news of the railroads,’” was the questions.
Shelton did not have an answer and wagered all of her money, making her final total $0. Hornback answered incorrectly with “What is Pullman vs. United States?” and wagered $3,500, making his total $3,600. However, they were both going home with $5,000 from the show. Singh answered “What is Plessy v. Ferguson?” and wagered $0. He went home with $21,800 and will advance to the semi-finals.
The competition continues tomorrow, Wednesday, with three new contestants – Emily Sands, S37 3-time Champion and Champions Wildcard winner, Rachael Schwartz, first female contestant to win ToC, and Jonathan Fisher, highest-winning and longest-streaking giant killer.
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