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The Ultimate Tournament of Champions is a fifteen-week single-elimination tournament to be held on the syndicated game show Jeopardy! from February 9 to May 2005. The tournament will involve 144 contestants consisting of former five-game champions, winners of special tournaments, and other notable players. From this pool, two winners will move on to face Ken Jennings in a three-game final for a grand prize of US $2,000,000.
Format of the Tournament
In all, 145 contestants will participate in the tournament, whose format is as follows:
| Round
| Contestants
| Matches
| Match Duration
| Winner's Share 3
| 2nd Place Share
| 3rd Place Share
|
| 1
| 135
| 45
| 1 game
| US $15,000+
| US $5,000
| US $5,000
|
| 2
| 54 1
| 18
| 1 game
| US $20,000+
| US $10,000
| US $10,000
|
| 3
| 18
| 6
| 1 game
| US $30,000+
| US $15,000
| US $15,000
|
| 4
| 6
| 2
| 2 games
| US $50,000+
| US $30,000+
| US $20,000+
|
| 5
| 3 2
| 1
| 3 games
| US $2,000,000
| US $500,000
| US $250,000
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Note 1: In Round 2, the 45 winners from Round 1 will be joined by the "Nifty Nine" -- 9 seeded contestants who will receive first-round byes.
Note 2: In Round 5, the champions from both 2-day semifinal matches will square off against Ken Jennings for a grand prize of US $2,000,000.
Note 3: Winners in Rounds 1-3 and all players in Round 4 will receive at least the amounts listed in prize money, with any additional in-game earnings as bonuses.
Schedule and Results
Upcoming matches
For undisclosed reasons, Sony has chosen not to release all of the tournament dates. Instead, they plan to release schedules one week at a time.
| Date
| Contestant 1
| Contestant 2
| Contestant 3
|
| February 9, 2005
| Leslie Frates
| Michael Galvin
| Eric Terzuolo
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| February 10, 2005
| Michael Rankins
| Rachael Schwartz
| John Genova
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| February 11, 2005
| Melissa (Sexstone) Seal
| Babu Srinivasan
| Arthur Phillips
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| February 14, 2005
| Dave Traini
| Alan Bailey
| Janet Wong
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| February 15, 2005
| Frank Epstein
| Bob Harris
| Tom Cubbage
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| edit (http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Template:Jeopardy%21_Ultimate_Tournament_of_Champions_upcoming_matches)
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Round 1 results
Round 1, which starts on February 9, and is likely to end on April 12, features 135 contestants battling against each other for the right to make it to the next round.
Results will be posted once tournament games begin airing.
List of contestants
The following contestants get a bye into the final round:
The following contestants get a bye into the second round:
- Robin Carroll
- Chuck Forrest
- Eric Newhouse
- Brad Rutter
- Sean Ryan
- Frank Spangenberg
- Bob Verini
- Tom Walsh
- Brian Weikle
The following contestants start in the first round:
- Dave Abbott
- Jack Archey
- Michael Arnone
- Alan Bailey
- Craig Barker
- Jeremy Bate
- Billy Baxter
- John Beck
- Steve Berman
- Bob Blake
- Bruce Borchardt
- Mark Born
- Paul Boymel
- Kurt Bray
- Michael Braun
- Tad Carithers
- Steve Chernicoff
- Larry Cloud
- Michelle Clum
- India Cooper
- Carolyn Cracraft
- Tom Cubbage
- Bernie Cullen
- John Cuthbertson
- Michael Daunt
- Michael Day
- Mark Dawson
- Josh Den Hartog
- Lan Djang
- Dennis Donohue
- Michael Dupee
- Mark Eckard
- Barbara-Anne Eddy
- Frank Epstein
- Amy Fine
- Eugene Finerman
- Bob Fleenor
- Kermin Fleming
- Leslie Frates
- Michael Galvin
- Andrew Garen
- John Genova
- Chacko George
- Scott Gillispie
- Graham Gilmer
- Sandra Gore
- Leah Greenwald
- Jean Grewe
- Jonathan Groff
- Paul Gutowski
- Kyle Hale
- Tom Halpern
- Bob Harris
- Pat Healy
- Roy Holliday
- Bernard Holloway
- Ryan Holznagel
- Andrew Hutchings
- Bruce Ikawa
- Sahir Islam
- Lance Johnson
- Phoebe Juel
- Vinita Kailasanath
- Dan Katz
- Kevin Keach
- John Kelly
- Rick Knutsen
- Doug Lach
- Erik Larsen
- Lee Lassiter
- John Le Donne
- Al Lin
- Mark Lowenthal
- Ben Lyon
- April McManus
- Dan Melia
- Chris Miller
- Leslie (Miller) Shannon
- Brian D. Moore
- Matt Morris
- Pam Mueller
- Bruce Naegeli
- Steve Newman
- Tom Nichols
- Trevor Norris
- Tom Nosek
- Leszek Pawlowicz
- Arthur Phillips
- Bill Pitassy
- Brad Plovan
- Steven Popper
- Fred Ramen
- Michael Rankins
- Jeff Richmond
- Lara Robillard
- Steve Robin
- Michael Rooney
- Jay Rosenberg
- John Ryan
- David Sampugnaro
- Ed Schiffer
- Russ Schumacher
- Rachael Schwartz
- Bev Schwartzberg
- Jim Scott
- Melissa (Sexstone) Seal
- David Siegel
- Diane Siegel
- Robert Slaven
- Bill Sloan
- Babu Srinivasan
- Jeff Stewart
- Eric Terzuolo
- Michael Thayer
- Paul Thompson
- Eddie Timanus
- Dave Traini
- Grace Veach
- David Venderbush
- Jerome Vered
- Brian Wangsgard
- Chris Ward
- Jamie Weiss
- Andy Westney
- Lynne Wexler
- Shane Whitlock
- Keith Williams
- Dave Willis
- Fraser Woodford
- Janet Wong
- Jennifer Wu
- Phil Yellman
- John Zhang
- Matt Zielenski
- Elaine Zollner
Controversy
The setup and timing of the tournament has resulted in much controversy.
Ken Jennings' placement
Ken is guaranteed at least third place and US $250,000 by his automatic bid in the tournament final. Some argue that other contestants could have been capable of similar streaks and that Jennings should not have been given preferential treatment.
Validity of results
If Jennings wins, some will question whether he would have won if he had not been given an automatic bid and were exposed to the stress and fatigue of his competitors from three or four rounds of battling. If Jennings loses, viewers will cast doubt on whether he was deserving of his bid.
Tournament length
Some are concerned that the length of the tournament (76 episodes) will not sustain viewer interest.
Selection of contestants
Some former five-day champions have reported on the official Jeopardy! message boards (http://boards.sonypictures.com/boards/showthread.php?threadid=84961) that they have not been selected as contestants due to their total winnings being under an undisclosed cutoff. However, they would have qualified if their winnings had been adjusted to accommodate for the doubling in clue values.
Effects on viewer ratings
Some dismiss the tournament as an attempt by Sony Pictures Entertainment to recover from declining viewer ratings after Ken Jennings' streak. However, they predict that this will hurt ratings much more in the long run, because Sony cannot continue to come up with special events like the UTOC regularly in order to maintain viewer interest.
Limits new contestants
As many people who have tried to become a contestant on Jeopardy! know, the selection process is long and difficult. Outside of the ongoing Los Angeles area tryouts, not everyone who applies for a regional tryout (which in most locations occurs only once every year or two) will even be invited for the initial test. The initial test is usually harder than the questions typically given on Jeopardy!. If you pass the test, the next round is usually another test, followed by a "screen test" simulation (sometimes the 2nd written test is skipped).
Given this, some say devoting 3 months of shows to a 150-person tournament is unfair because it means less opportunity for new contestants to be on the show, particularly if Sony continues to try to come up with long-term special events involving past contestants.
External links
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