Jeopardy! crowns Neilesh Vinjamuri as Tournament of Champions winner in shock end as rivals mourn ‘disappointing’ defeat

THE JEOPARDY! Tournament of Champions has come to a nail-biting end as Neilesh Vinjamuri is crowned the winner of the 2025 trivia show battle.

His opponents, Adriana Harmeyer and Isaac Hirsch, expressed their “disappointment” in long messages they penned after losing the prestigious tournament.

Ken Jennings hosts the Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions finaleCredit: Jeopardy!

Neilesh Vinjamuri celebrates his big ToC winCredit: Jeopardy!

Neilesh went into Thursday’s game with two final three Tournament wins under his belt, while Adriana and Isaac each had one.

As Jeopardy! fans will know, the first of the final three in the Tournament of Champions to score three wins will be hailed as the winner of the whole thing.

With the stakes big, Neilesh knew he had to stick to his game plan of wagering big on the Daily Doubles – and that’s exactly what he did right off the bat.

Neilesh found the first daily double – which doubled his score to $2,400 and giving him a nice lead by the first break.

Jeopardy! superchamp Adriana Harmeyer crushes opponents in brutal ToC defeat

Heading into the Double Jeopardy! round, Neilesh was in the lead with $6,600 while Isaac was behind with $3,400 and Adriana in third with $2,000.

Adriana gained the lead when she found the second Daily Double – doubling her score to $8,000.

However, Neilesh quickly regained the lead – only to lose it after falling $5,000 when he incorrectly guessed the third Daily Double.

The surprising miss was game changing – dropping Neilesh to second place however, he regained the lead going into Final Jeopardy!

Adriana Harmeyer, Isaac Hirsch and Neilesh Vinjamuri in the Tournament of Champions finaleCredit: Jeopardy!

He had secured $13,600 – versus the $10,400 for Adriana and $7,800 for Isaac going into the last round.

Host Ken Jennings, 50, then revealed the category to be “Greek Myth,” and read the last clue: “Panoptes, meaning all-seeing, was the byname of this legendary figure, slain by Hermes while standing guard over Io.”

“What is Argus?” was the correct response – which everyone was correct with.

Adriana’s final score was $16,400 while Isaac was just behind with $15,500 – but it was Neilesh who scored the big win, coming out on top with $20,801.
Jeopardy! host Ken Jennings mocked for ‘ridiculous’ accent that was ‘distracting’ in tense Tournament of Champions final
“That gives you a third win. And he just won the Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions,” Ken excitedly said to the new champ.

Neilesh fist pumped in the air to celebrate his win and the additional $250,000 he gets to take home as he moves onto the Tournament of Masters.

Isaac and Adriana each earned $75,000 for coming in second and third place.

‘PRETTY DESPONDENT’

Following the episode airing, Isaac candidly responded to his defeat online, writing: “And thus ends the 2025 TOC.

“I remember being very “locked in” last game and thinking “okay, we can pull this off”… then we went to lunch and I came back with this clunker of a game.

“Obviously, I’m disappointed with the overall result here, but I am very relieved I did manage to win one game or I would’ve been pretty despondent after.”

Despite the tough loss, he praised his opponent: “In case you can’t tell, Neilesh is absolutely ridiculous on the buzzer.

“Neilesh has deep pockets of knowledge and is unafraid to make big wagers, but his greatest asset is incredible buzzer speed.

“Adriana and I are pretty good at the buzzer, I think, but by the end of this he had me completely rethinking my strategy when it comes to buzzing in.”

Jeopardy! Set Secrets

Jeopardy! fans don’t see everything behind the scenes from watching on TV. These hidden set features make the show run smoothly:

Each podium has a hidden riser so that all contestants appear to be the same height.
After each clue is read, signal lights go off around the game board, indicating players can buzz in and respond.
Buzz in too early, and you’re locked out for .25 seconds.
The podiums have a small white light in the lower left corner, which tells Ken Jennings who goes next.
Contrary to popular belief, the player with control doesn’t have a buzzer advantage on the next clue.
To the game board’s left is a scoreboard so the players can see their opponents’ scores.
All contestants must bring three outfits to the studio, but only the host and returning champion change for the next episode.
There are wardrobe rules, including restrictions on busy patterns, solid white, purple (like the background), and logos.
Five episodes are taped in a single day, and sometimes more.
The categories, players (aside from the returning champion), and Final Jeopardy! for a tape day are all drawn randomly to ensure fairness.
Female contestants are asked not to wear makeup, which is applied backstage, and don’t wear mascara because of sweat.
Contestants fill out a questionnaire, and producers select five Q&A topics for the host.
Host Ken isn’t allowed to interact with the contestants until after the game.
Players can request to sit in a chair while competing without question.

He added: “If this is the end of my Jeopardy experience, I’m satisfied. I had a fun time, met a lot of great folks (both fellow contestants and the people who actually make the show), and won more money than I’ll ever make doing customer support.

“It has been one of the greatest experiences of my life, and I feel blessed to have gotten to do it. I’d be remiss if I didn’t thank my family and my girlfriend, who have made sure I know that I’m still a winner to them.”

Adriana also shared some thoughts, admitting: “It wasn’t my day, it wasn’t my tournament, but I feel so fortunate to have reached this point and shared the finals stage with two brilliant competitors.

“Isaac is so good at this and pulled out some truly impressive daily doubles and finals. Huge congratulations to Neilesh, who showed throughout this tournament why he’s a deserving champion.