Did Geoff Barnes Qualify for ‘Jeopardy!’ Tournament of Champions?

[The following post contains MAJOR spoilers for the Tuesday, June 3, episode of Jeopardy!]

After Jeopardy! fans swooned over three-day champion Geoff Barnes, the contestant tried to win his way into their hearts more by trying for a spot in the Tournament of Champions.

Barnes, from Washington D.C., had a three-day total of $44,801. On Tuesday, June 3, he faced off against Peter Vorissis, from Los Angeles, California, and Stella Trout, from Houston, Texas.

Barnes, an analyst, found the first Daily Double early on in the round. With $2,000 in his bank, he made it a true Daily Double since his opponents were way far behind. In “A Double Shot Of Whiskey,” the clue read, “Glenfiddich & Glenlivet are famous scotches of this type, meaning produced from the barley of just one distillery.” “What is single-malt?” he answered and doubled up to $4,000.

During the interviews, the reigning champion revealed that he had been a “lifelong Jeopardy! fan” and was “much cuter as a toddler.”

“Somewhere on my parents’ camcorder, there is footage of me celebrating every night when Alex Trebek came on. I really loved when he came on the screen. But, I couldn’t say his name, so I would say, ‘Alex Quebec, Alex Quebec!’ and get really hyped up about it,” Barnes revealed. “It was the highlight of my weekdays.”

Host Ken Jennings laughed and said that Trebek probably would have appreciated the Canadian nickname since the late host was Canadian.

At the end of the round, he had the lead with $7,400. Trout, a software engineer, was in second with $2,800. Vorissis, a writer and teacher, wasn’t too far behind with $2,400.

In Double Jeopardy, Trout had the chance to take the lead when she found the first DD of the round on the third clue. She had $4,000 in her bank, and she made it a true Daily Double. In “20th Century Poetry,” the clue read, “Ezra Pound was partial to these poetic works defined as divisions of a long poem; he wrote 117 of them.” She answered right away with “What are the cantos?” Trout doubled up and took the lead with $8,000. She surpassed Barnes, who had $7,400.

Trout continued to dominate the round and double up on her total before finding the second DD. With $20,000 in her bank, Trout wagered only $3,000. In “Life is a 5-Letter Word,” the clue read, “Out West, Theodore Roosevelt had a ‘half-melancholy feeling as I gazed upon these’ beasts of a ‘nearly vanished race.’” She correctly answered with “What are bison?” adding $3,000 to her score for a total of $23,000.

Up until that point, Barnes had yet to answer one question in the round. However, he made a bit of a comeback as he answered a streak of clues, keeping him in second place.

The game ended with three clues going unanswered, but it didn’t matter because Trout had a huge lead going into Final Jeopardy with $25,800. Barnes had $10,600. Vorissis remained in last with $3,600.

The category for Final Jeopardy was “Famous Structures.” “In April 2018 an MLB game was postponed after ice falling from this structure punctured the roof of Rogers Centre” was the clue.

Vorissis did not know that answer and instead gave a shoutout to the River Rats. He wagered $3,599, giving him a final total of $1. The correct answer was CN Tower, which both Barnes and Trout answered correctly. Barnes wagered $10,599, giving him $21,199, but that wasn’t enough. Trout added $3,000 to her total to give her $28,800, making her the night’s winner. She will be back on Wednesday to face off against two new opponents.

Barnes did not qualify for the ToC as a Jeopardy! contestant has to win at least four games.

Fans reacted to Barnes’ loss, with some happy about it, while others were sad to see him go.

“Geoff’s all done but his run was the perfect length. Not everything has to be an Amodio Rodeo haha,” a Reddit user said.

“Agreed. After a 2 or 3-day streak, I’m ready for someone new to win,” replied another fan.

“I feel like this is only really fair to say once you get into the 5+ day runs; ending at 3 wins is fine, and much better nowadays with the whole Champions Wildcard structure, but going for that guaranteed TOC spot is way, way more of a ‘perfect’ length, at least to me,” another fan replied.

“That might be from (some) audience members’ perspective, but it’s bad that he’s unlikely to make it to the ToC. He’s a very strong competitor and would have been no different in the tournament,” replied one user.

Others were amazed at Trout’s win.

“Stella put on a scintillating performance!! That double jeopardy round was 🔥,” a  Reddit user wrote.

“Stella is my favorite Jeopardy! player in a very long time. So nonchalant while being wicked smart. She has that je ne sais quoi and it works very well for her,” commented another.

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