[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for the Moday, February 24 episode of Jeopardy!]
Amy Schneider was a pre-tournament fan-favorite pick to win the Jeopardy! Invitational Tournament, so it was with some excitement that her legion of fans turned in to watch her return to the show. During the Monday, February 24 episode, Schneider, a writer from Oakland, California faced off against Luigi de Guzman, an attorney from Arlington, Virginia, and Avi Gupta, a law student originally from Portland, Oregon.
Schneider was behind during the beginning of the first round, not answering any questions. She quickly caught up, correctly answering three in a row, bringing her total to $1,000. Before the first commercial break, Schneider was in second place with $3,600. de Guzman had $4,800 and Gupta was in last with $1,400.
During the introduction rounds, host Ken Jennings asked de Guzman if he thought he’d ever be back. The 2022 five-game winner said no and that he told his grandmom’s friend no, but then got the call to do JIT and figured why not. Schneider is coming out with a new edition of her book on March 4 called Who is Amy Schneider?, which is an adaptation of the 2022 Tournament of Champions’ book, but for younger readers. Gupta is currently in his second year of law school. He won the 2019 Teen Tournament.
De Guzman took a substantial lead when he correctly answered the Daily Double, wagering $1,200, bringing his total to $8,000. By the end of the round, de Guzman still led with $9,600. Schneider maintained her second-place standing with $5,200. Gupta gained a bit more money, coming in at $2,600.
However, in Double Jeopardy!, Schneider gained the lead when she correctly answered the Daily Double. “The forces of Leonidas & Xerxes faced off at this 480 B.C. Battle,” the question read as Schneider nodded. “What is Themopoli?” she answered, bringing her total to $12,200, after wagering $5,000.
Gupta caught up to his opponents quickly by going all in on the last Daily Double and correctly answering it, making his total $9,200.
However, Schneider didn’t maintain her lead for long. De Guzman answered nearly every question in the round. Amy answered a few and got two wrong, bringing her total down a bit. By the end of Double Jeopardy!, here were the standings. De Guzman was way in the lead with $23,600. Schneider stood in second with $14,200. Gupta wasn’t far behind with $11,600.
The Final Jeopardy! question read: “Enlisting in the army in 1917, he was sent to Camp Sheridan in Montgomery, where he met the woman who became his wife.”
Gupta answered incorrectly with “Who is Faulkner?” He wagered $7,233, making his final total $4,367. Schneider wrote “Who is Hemingway?” She originally wrote Faulkner but then crossed it out. de Guzman also answered with “Who is Faulkner?” They were also wrong as the answer was “Who was F. Scott Fitzgerald?” Schneider wagered $10,000, bringing her final total to $4,200, and putting her in last place. de Guzman wagered $4,801, making his final total $18,799.
On Reddit, the winner admitted that he didn’t watch the show, Severance, which was one of the categories in tonight’s game. “Hi folks! After Jeopardy released this teaser on Instagram about a “Severance” category, I realized I actually had almost ZERO recollection of this game. So I guess we will all have to embark on this journey of discovery together today,” he said.
A Reddit user said that they would have passed out if they knew they were competing against Schneider, but De Guzman said that he didn’t know until he got there. “For the record, matchups weren’t posted. They announced each round separately. The green room started off crowded until by the end it was just Avi, Amy, and me. The last thing I remember was muttering “morituri te salutamus” (we who are about to die, salute you—what the gladiators said in the Colosseum) under my breath as I mounted the stage. After that? Total blackout.”
However, he complimented his opponent by saying that Schneider is “without a doubt, one of the greatest ever to play the game.”
De Guzman shared a worry with viewers going into the game. He had swelling & fresh bleeding on the retina of my right eye, which made his vision distorted with a blind spot. However, de Guzman said that the way the new board and set is set up, he didn’t have much trouble reading the board.
On February 25, Ray Lalonde, Season 39 Champion, Robin Carroll, 2000 Toc Winner, and Ryan Long, 15-game champion, will compete.
Jeopardy!, Weekdays, check your local listings