2025 Tournament of Champions final game 1.
Neilesh Vinjamuri — a software engineer from Lionville, Pennsylvania
Isaac Hirsch — a customer support team lead from Burbank, California
Adriana Harmeyer — an archivist from West Lafayette, Indiana
| Player | First Commercial | End of Jeopardy! | End of Double Jeopardy! | Final | Coryat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adriana | $1,600 | $3,400 | $11,400 |
$5,400
Winner: 1 match point |
$13,200
15 R, 1 W (including 1 DD) |
| Isaac | $2,000 | $2,800 | $13,800 |
$4,799
2nd place |
$11,600
19 R (including 2 DDs), 5 W |
| Neilesh | $2,400 | $3,800 | $11,400 |
$0
3rd place |
$11,400
17 R, 3 W |
| THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE | FLIGHTS OF FANCY | 12-LETTER WORDS | LANDMARKS | POLE | POSITION |
|
$200
[19]
The second paragraph declares that the creator endows people with certain unalienable rights & then lists these 3
life, liberty & the pursuit of happiness
Adriana
|
$200
[30]
No, the Titanic's fate wasn't due to a curse involving a priestess of Amen-Ra or any of these tightly wrapped types
a mummy
Neilesh
|
$200
[28]
This adjective means complicated & difficult to find your way through, like confronting an ancient Cretan maze
labyrinthine
Isaac
|
$200
[20]
The Taj Mahal features one large & 4 smaller these in the "onion" style
dome
Neilesh
|
$200
[29]
A national historic park has a collection of these from Tlingit history, including the Cormorant Memorialone
totem
Neilesh
|
$200
[7]
"Dig if you will the picture" of the top spot in 1984: this Prince hit
"When Doves Cry"
Isaac
|
|
$400
[18]
Language condemning the British practice of this "execrable commerce" was removed despite objections
slavery
Neilesh
|
$400
[12]
Despite what you've heard, the traditional throwing of this at the end of a wedding will not harm birds or their tummies
rice
Isaac
|
$400
[27]
From Greek for "making of words", this, meaning imitative of sound, might make you hiss
onomatopoeia
Adriana
|
$400
[14]
Greek for "high city", itrises some 500 feet above Athens
the Acropolis
Isaac
|
$400
[24]
Their poles are thought to relate to the ancient practice of bloodletting, with red symbolizing blood & white, bandages
barbers
Adriana
|
$400
[8]
We can see why The Weeknd wears shades so often with this 2020 chart-topper
"Blinding Lights"
Isaac
|
|
$600
[15]
About 2 weeks after Pearl Harbor, the Declaration was hidden away at this Kentucky facility, where it remained until late 1944
Fort Knox
Neilesh
|
$600
[1]
Science has never substantiated the existence of this fanciful beast that attacks livestock & has a name meaning "goat sucker"
a chupacabra
Isaac
|
$600
[6]
A copy of an ancient Grecian urn, or how a species propagates
a reproduction
Isaac
|
$600
[11]
The dining room at this home of a president is serviced by a dumbwaiter & a revolving door for presenting food
Monticello
Adriana
|
$600
[23]
Part of George Costanza's heritage, it's symbolized by an aluminum pole
Festivus
Isaac
|
$600
[9]
At 35th in 2008 was this banger from M.I.A. that featured gunshots & taking "your money"
"Paper Planes"
Isaac
|
|
$800
[17]
The Declaration drew direct inspiration from ideas in this colony's Declaration of Rights
Virginia
Isaac
Neilesh
|
$800
[2]
This Ukrainian president wasn't seen on video in a strange costume doing a belly dance; that rumor's been debunked
Zelenskyy
Adriana
|
$800
[25]
A Northerner in the South during Reconstruction might be labeled this, for the satchel he carried
a carpetbagger
Adriana
|
$1,000
[4]
Built in the 17th & 18th centuries, the Schönbrunn Palacewas the summer home of this dynasty for nearly two centuries
Habsburg
Adriana
|
$800
[22]
Term for a type of TV programming where a strong show "supports" a weaker preceding or following show
tentpole
Isaac
|
$800
[10]
We're off to hear this artist's "See You Again", which checked in at third in 2015
Wiz Khalifa
Neilesh
|
|
$1,000
[16]
The document was influenced by this English thinker's tenet that govt. gets its powers from "the consent of the people"
John Locke
Neilesh
|
$1,000
[3]
This Baltimore Sun writer's completely fictitious history of the bathtub from 1917 was believed by many, much to his mischievous delight
Mencken
Neilesh
|
$1,000
[26]
This 12-letter synonym for sleepwalker sounds a lot fancier
somnambulist
Neilesh
|
DD
$1,800
[5]
Its name is Quechua for "old peak"
Machu Picchu
Adriana
|
$1,000
[21]
Thislegendary Ukrainian pole vaulter was the first to clear 20 feet
Sergey Bubka
|
$1,000
[13]
In 2000 he had the 2nd & 3rd spots with "Smooth" (with Rob Thomas) & "Maria Maria" (with The Product G&B)
Santana
Adriana
|
| HEART WORM-ING MOVIES | CEOs | POETRY-POURRI | ANAGRAMS OF EACH OTHER | INTO AFRICA | 10/10 WINDS |
|
$400
[19]
To celebrate the release of "Dune: Part Two", AMC concession stands sold these in the shape of a sandworm
popcorn bucket
Neilesh
|
$400
[30]
Right before CEO-ing at Starbucks, Brian Niccol ran this company where his go-to was the bowl, not the burrito
Chipotle
Adriana
|
$400
[29]
In the late 19th century, Masaoka Shiki revived the 2 classic Japanese traditional poetic forms of tanka & this
haiku
Neilesh
|
$400
[28]
Where cheese is made &where thoughts are jotted
dairy & diary
Adriana
|
$400
[25]
Sporting a 355-foot maximum drop, this landmark named by Livingstone has a mean flow of about 35,000 cubic feet per second
Victoria Falls
Neilesh
|
$400
[21]
The Arabic word for "season" gives us this seasonal rain & wind pattern that occurs over South Asia
monsoon
Neilesh
|
|
$800
[18]
This 2006 film based on a Y.A. book by Thomas Rockwell has Billy "Wormboy" Forrester agreeing to ingest 10 squiggly wigglies
How to Eat Fried Worms
Adriana
|
$800
[26]
Mary Dillon is the CEO of this store for sneakerheads that has a black-&-white logo
Foot Locker
Isaac
|
$800
[27]
Unrhymed iambic pentameter, this type of "verse" was embraced by Milton & Frost
blank
Neilesh
|
$800
[24]
A real test of character, perhaps by fire, &to put in more ammo
ordeal & reload
Isaac
Neilesh
|
$800
[11]
The snows of this Tanzanian mountain include the Dome of Kibo, which has a 1.2-mile-wide crater
Kilimanjaro
Isaac
|
$800
[15]
It's the alliterative name for a smallwhirlwindmade up of dirt & debris
a dust devil
Isaac
|
|
$1,200
[5]
Worms called Graboids are on the hunt for some Kevin Bacon in this 1990 film
Tremors
Adriana
|
$1,200
[4]
O say can you see, Gail Boudreaux took over as CEO of this health insurance provider in 2017; it's now called Elevance Health
Anthem
Isaac
Neilesh
|
$1,200
[1]
From the Latin for "song", it's a major section of an epic poem
a canto
Isaac
|
$1,200
[12]
To support &a marine creature with edible claws
bolster & lobster
Isaac
|
$1,600
[9]
Thiscountry has a modest but beach-bum-friendly 35-mile coastline on the Gulf of Guinea
Togo
Neilesh
|
$1,200
[16]
Here's an Earth-sized storm on this planet, an ice giant that has the strongest winds in the Solar System
Neptune
Adriana
|
|
$1,600
[6]
A wormy pal named Maggotlives inside the head of the title character in this Tim Burton tale of man meets decaying flesh
the Corpse Bride
Isaac
|
$1,600
[23]
This pork producer from Virginia had CEOs with the same name: Joseph Luter Jr. & the 3rd; even J.L. the 4th got into some ham hawking
Smithfield
Isaac
|
$1,600
[2]
Horace's odes use a poetic style named for this woman
Sappho
|
DD
$2,000
[13]
A physical reaction to a substance &a place to hang art
gallery & allergy
Isaac
|
$2,000
[10]
In December 2024 Joe Biden became the first U.S. president to visit this African country & its National Museum of Slavery
Angola
Isaac
|
$1,600
[17]
According to Raymond Chandler, these desert So Cal winds make "wives feel the edge of the carving knife & study their husbands' necks"
the Santa Ana winds
|
|
$2,000
[7]
"Would you still love me if I was a worm?" takes on a whole new meaning in "Slither", the first film directed by this DC Studios CEO
(James) Gunn
Isaac
|
$2,000
[22]
In 2015 Larry Page handed over the reins of Google to this CEO born in Tamil Nadu, India
Sundar Pichai
Neilesh
|
$2,000
[3]
Sounding like a female antagonist from TV, it's a 19-line poem with 2 refrains
villanelle
Adriana
|
$2,000
[14]
3 responses:showy fall flower, shocking weapon & fixed gaze
taser, aster & stare
Adriana
|
DD
$3,000
[8]
This capital on the Congo River shoreline was the site of Ali & Foreman's "Rumble in the Jungle"
Kinshasa
Isaac
|
$2,000
[20]
This wind scale named for a hydrographer ranges from calm to hurricane
Beaufort
Neilesh
|
At his trial, revolutionaries referred to the deposed Louis XVI with this last name, one used previously for a dynasty
Capet