The latest Jeopardy Tournament of Champions just started with a result that no one saw coming. Fans were eager to see if six game winner Liam Starnes could keep his streak alive and move into the semi finals. The road to the top is long and difficult in this special event. There are eighteen top players who start out in six different games. Winners from those matches have to face off against legendary players like Scott Riccardi or Paolo Pasco. Eventually the field narrows down until one person wins three games in the finals to take home a trophy and a massive check for two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
Liam Starnes came into the game on January 19 as a payment program manager from Ohio. Many viewers thought he was the man to beat because of his past success. He faced Tom Devlin who is a lawyer from Washington DC and Aaron Levine who works as a sports anchor in Seattle. Both of these men were three game champions in their own right. This meant the competition was going to be very stiff from the very first clue.
The game took a turn for Starnes very early on. He found a Daily Double on the fifth clue and decided to bet all of his sixteen hundred dollars. The question was about a quote by William Blake regarding portals. Starnes froze for a moment and only answered after the host prompted him. He guessed that the answer was mirrors but he was wrong. The correct answer was the doors of perception and his score fell instantly to zero.
Starnes managed to fight his way back into the game slowly. By the middle of the first round he had twelve hundred dollars. By the time the round ended he was sitting with fourteen hundred dollars. Levine was in second place with two thousand dollars while Devlin had surged ahead to five thousand. It was clear that Devlin was starting to take control of the momentum.
During the second round Starnes found another chance to catch up with a Daily Double. Even though he only had fourteen hundred dollars he was allowed to bet two thousand. He correctly identified the Smoot Hawley Tariff as a catastrophic act in congressional history. This boosted his total to thirty four hundred dollars. However he could not maintain that rhythm and struggled to answer more clues for a while.
The game shifted again when Levine found the final Daily Double. He had fifty six hundred dollars and risked everything on a question about a famous woman in psychoanalysis. He guessed Joliot Curie but the answer was actually Anna Freud. This mistake wiped out his entire bank and left him with nothing. Devlin stayed in the lead with a strong score of over nine thousand dollars.
As the match came to a close it turned into a two man race between Starnes and Devlin. Starnes tried his best to catch up by getting several clues right in a row. It simply was not enough to close the gap. When they headed into the final round Devlin was dominating with nineteen thousand four hundred dollars. Starnes followed with sixty two hundred and Levine was far behind in third place.
The Final Jeopardy category was about famous photos. The clue described a short photographer who had to climb onto a sandbag to take a picture on a specific peak. Only Levine knew the correct answer was Mount Suribachi. Starnes guessed Iwo Jima and lost all of his money on the wager. Devlin also guessed Iwo Jima but he was smart enough to bet zero dollars. This strategic move protected his lead and secured his victory.
Tom Devlin is now moving on to the semi finals to face Scott Riccardi. After the show Levine shared his thoughts on social media about his tough loss. He joked that he might need therapy after missing a question about the daughter of Sigmund Freud. He gave plenty of credit to Devlin for being a fast and knowledgeable player. While he was sad to lose he said it was a joy to compete against such talented people.