Jeopardy! contestant makes shocking claim about ‘fairness’ in the Tournament of Champions

A JEOPARDY! contestant in the Tournament of Champions has shared a jaw-dropping revelation about how the coveted contest is produced.

A fan on Reddit was convinced that the game show’s producers decided who plays who in each game.

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Ken Jennings is hosting the Tournament of Champions from February 23 until late MarchCredit: 2023 American Broadcasting Companies, Inc.

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A Jeopardy! fan had a feeling that producers purposely arranged the matchupsCredit: Jeopardy!

Jeopardy!’s 2024 Tournament of Champions has finally hit the small screens and is now in its quarterfinals.

In an upset for the ages, 21-day champion Cris Panullo lost his first-round match to three-day champion Jared Watson on Monday.

But that shocker wasn’t what intrigued this particular Jeopardy! fan.

Instead, it was how Cris was also matched against Ben Goldstein.

After Ben’s run ended, fans may recall that the five-day champ called out Cris, declaring in a post-game interview: “Cris Pannullo, I’m coming for you, baby!”

The fact that Goldstein was then paired with Pannullo in the ToC seemed more than just a coincidence, given he challenged him.

‘INTENTIONAL?’

The fan wrote: “I like to imagine that the producers intentionally paired Ben [Goldstein] and Cris together after Ben’s tongue-in-cheek challenge to him after winning five games.”

Suresh Krishnan (who won last Friday’s premiere) wrote back, explaining that’s not the case.

In fact, as he explained, all of the ToC matches are completely randomized.

He wrote: “It may seem like that, but I am fairly sure that had nothing to do with the picks.

“There is a third-party auditing firm that makes those picks (i.e., who plays who), and they are not affiliated with Jeopardy.”

The stunned fan replied, joking: “I’m sure you’re right, but that’s not as fun of an explanation!”

The confession is surprising because many fans were convinced the producers chose each matchup to heighten the stakes.

CRIS GETS CRUSHED

Meanwhile, viewers expected Pannullo to win easily on Monday as his 21 wins brought him $748,400, the fifth-highest regular gameplay earnings in history, and its sixth-longest run.

However, the ToC’s frontrunner did anything but and lost to a three-time champ in a runaway.

The first sign of trouble came in the Jeopardy! round, when Cris flubbed a math clue picked up by Jared, who then found the round’s Daily Double.

The quality control specialist from Greenville, Texas, and musician went all-in and aced it as “Space Mountain,” tying Cris and scoring a huge round of applause.

By Final Jeopardy, Jared had an uncatchable lead at $32,200, Cris at $14,000, and Ben at $4,400 – the coffin nail was that Jared also aced Final Jeopardy, Cris didn’t and dropped to $0.

As Jared advanced to the semifinals, he exclaimed: “What is even happening right now!?”

Ken Jennings remarked: “Big upsets like that are gonna happen!” and Cris went over to give his victor a handshake.

‘JAW STILL ON THE FLOOR’

Fans flooded a Reddit internet thread, shocked that the 2024 ToC’s top seed and the winningest contestant since Matt and Amy is out.

One fan wrote: “Welcome to the Tournament of Chaos, everybody. And congratulations to Jared on his victory.”

Another wrote: “Eventually, I just continued watching this episode with my mouth agape as I tried to process what was happening. Congrats to Jared!”

A third wrote: “THIS is why I love the ToC. It is not to see one of our greatest all-time competitors go out in the quarterfinals. It is a reminder that anything can happen and nobody enters with the competition on lock.”

A fourth wrote: “Oh. my. god. My jaw is still on the floor after that game. did anyone see this coming?? I’m bummed to see cris go, but i have a feeling this won’t be the last we see of him on jeopardy.

Jared then penned: “To all of those that are shocked that this happened, NONE of you are more shocked than me!

“Make no mistake, I prepared harder for this than anything I’ve ever done, and I wanted to play the best I possibly could, but still, I never expected this.

“Playing Cris was my nightmare scenario going in, as I’m sure it was for many of the other contestants in this absolutely loaded field.”

The ToC will all conclude in late March, with the victor earning $250,000, a championship belt, an invite to the next Jeopardy! Masters in May, and serious bragging rights.

Ken, 49, helms the ToC, as he is now Jeopardy!’s permanent and only host following Mayim Bialik’s firing in December 2023.

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The fact that Ben Goldstein was paired with Cris Pannullo seemed a bit on the nose since Goldstein once challenged Cris to a matchCredit: ABC

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The contestant replied, explaining that all of the matchups are actually randomizedCredit: Jeopardy!

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Meanwhile, Cris did lose – not to Goldstein but to a ‘shocked’ 3-day champ in Jared WatsonCredit: Jeopardy!