The second season of Jeopardy! Masters continued on Monday night (May 6) and saw self-declared “final boss” James Holzhauer taking a more serious approach to the competition.
Masters sees six of Jeopardy!‘s most elite players battling it for a $500,000 grand prize. This year’s line-up includes reigning Masters champion Holzhauer, runners-up Matt Amodio and Mattea Roach, 2024 Tournament of Champions winner Yogesh Raut, Jeopardy! Invitiational Tournament winner Victoria Groce, and producers’ pick, Amy Schneider.
Heading into Monday evening, Groce and Raut led the pack with three points each, having both won their first games. Holzhauer and Roach stood at one point each for placing second, while Amodio and Schneider trailed with zero.
The first game of the night saw a rematch from last year’s finale, with Holzhauer up against Amodio and Roach. History repeated itself as Holzhauer put his game face on and dominated the competition, giving him his first win of the tournament.
While the self-described game show super-villain often likes to crack jokes and poke fun at his opponents (and host Ken Jennings), he took a more humorless approach to Monday’s game. As an example of how serious he was, he went all in with 20,000 on the last Daily Double despite already having a slight lead over Amodio.
Holzhauer’s gamble paid off, giving him a runaway of $45,200 heading into Final Jeopardy, the highest score in Masters history. He also answered the Final Jeopardy clue correctly, adding another 908 points for a jaw-dropping total of $46,108 and earning three match points. Amodio finished second, giving him his first match point of the tournament.
“James is a menace,” wrote one viewer on X.
“Man what a dominating performance by @James_Holzhauer No wonder why’s he nicknamed the Final Boss. He had a so-so performance last week, but today he has brought his “A” game,” said another.
Others were surprised he didn’t use his Final Jeopardy response to make a joke, something he did frequently throughout Masters Season 1.
“I thought James might come up with an unhinged message,” wrote one fan, while another added, “James didn’t want to take a shot at Ken with his Final response? Haha.”
In the second game, 2022 TOC winner and JIT! runner-up Amy Schneider struggled to get out of the blocks. Despite being one of the show’s most dominant champions, Schneider fell behind Groce and Raut and finished in last place again, meaning she’s still yet to put points on the board.
Groce, meanwhile, continued to impress, picking up another three match points with a runaway victory. By the end of Double Jeopardy, she had 41,000 compared to Raut’s 11,800 and Schneider’s 10,200. Even though she was the only one to get the Final Jeopardy clue wrong, her lead was so significant it didn’t matter.
“We knew Victoria would be good but WOW,” wrote one viewer on the Jeopardy! Reddit forum.
“Loved her doing that quick math before her DD,” said another commenter.
“That was one of the most impressive things I’ve ever seen on any game show. She’s a friggin machine,” added one user.
Another added, “Victoria is killing it.”
“Victoria v. James? Yes please,” wrote another, anticipating the upcoming match-ups.
What did you think of last night’s Masters? Who do you think will win the whole tournament? Let us know in the comments section below.
Leaderboard
1st – Victoria Groce – 6
2nd – James Holzhauer – 4*
3rd – Yogesh Raut – 4
4th – Matt Amodio – 1
5th – Mattea Roach – 1
6th – Amy Schneider – 0
