Jeopardy! superchamp Adriana Harmeyer crushes opponents in brutal defeat as fans say she’s ‘big frontrunner’ to win ToC

The trivia star’s rivals pulled out all the stops to take down her winning streak but ultimately got crushed by the frontrunner

JEOPARDY! superchamp Adriana Harmeyer has made her long-awaited comeback on today’s nail-biting battle and did not disappoint as she crushed her opponents.

Following today’s impressive performance, fans have labeled the 15-time winner as the “clear frontrunner” to take home the top prize in the Tournament of Champions.

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Adriana Harmeyer returns to Jeopardy! to compete on Tournament of ChampionsCredit: Jeopardy!

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Ken Jennings hosts the 2025 Tournament of ChampionsCredit: Jeopardy!
Adriana made her Jeopardy! debut back in May 2024 and became an instant fan-favorite due to her quick wit, impressive buzzer gameplay and fun personality.

She ultimately ended up winning 15 games and accumulated a whopping $351,600.

The archivist from West Lafayette, Indiana is just the 17th Jeopardy! champion who has been able to earn 10 or more wins in the regular-season.

Looking to expand her game show resume, she has returned to the ToC as she tries to extend her run.

She went up against rivals who also have had impressive runs on the show – Will Wallace, a game design director from Austin, Texas and Ryan Manton, a systems administrator from Columbus, Ohio.

Knowing he was playing such an impressive opponent, Ryan started off with a big swing as he went all in on a true Daily Double that was the first one found of the game.

His score doubled to $2,000 and by the first break, he was in the lead with $4,000.

Adriana was in second with $2,000 while Ryan had jumped up to $5,200 – while Will remained in third with $200.

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Jeopardy! players L-R: Adriana Harmeyer, Ryan Manton, Will WallaceCredit: Jeopardy!
She overtook the lead when she found the second daily double and her total extended to $15,200 where Ryan was at $12,000.

Will was barely able to get out of the red when he made a comeback at the end after losing $2,000 on the third Daily Double.

Heading into Final Jeopardy!, Adriana had an impressive $22,000 while Ryan had $12,000 and Will with just $200.

Ken Jennings, 50, then read the last clue under the category “Countries of the World.”

The host read the clue: “About 80 miles from Vladivostok, its 11-mile land border with Russia is the shortest of that country’s 14 neighbors.”

Adriana added $3,000 to her total prize as both she and Ryan were correct with writing down “What is North Korea?”

She ended up winning the game with a whopping $25,000 – but Ryan gave her a run for her money just behind with $22,001 while Will finished with $0.

Will reacted to the tough loss, posting online after the game: “Second day of filming and I drew first match of the day again! Time to chug some coffee and play a 15-time superchamp.

“Typical Thursday. What’s for breakfast? (Back later with thoughts and memories about the day.)”

Fans also had a strong reaction, with one predicting: “Calling it now – Adriana will win the full tournament. How can you not see her as the clear frontrunner?”

Jeopardy! Contestant Rules

Passing Jeopardy!’s online Anytime Test is hard enough, but there are also many rules players must follow once they make it to the stage:

The returning champion is always at the leftmost podium and keeps playing until they lose.
Contestants don’t have to say “who is” or “what is” in the first round but must do so in Double Jeopardy! and Final Jeopardy.
Contestants can change their responses as long as Ken Jennings or the judges haven’t made a ruling.
The minimum wager for a Daily Double is $5. The minimum wager for Final Jeopardy! is $0.
Written responses in Final Jeopardy! do not have to be spelled correctly, but they must be phonetically correct (the judges decide this).
If there’s a tie after Final Jeopardy, the tied players enter a bonus clue shootout, and whoever buzzes in first correctly wins.
If all three contestants wager everything in Final Jeopardy! and are incorrect, leaving them with $0, there will be no returning champion (it’s happened before—six times).

“Adriana is such a force,” another said.

“All three of the players are phenomenal. It was a great game but congrats to Adriana,” a third mentioned.

While one more added that Adriana is the “best” fans have seen on the Alex Trebek stage in a “very long time.”

Adriana moves on in the tournament – which crowns its champion after the first contestant who wins three games.

Last year’s winner was Yogesh Raut who walked away with $250,000 – the same prize money that will be awarded this year.

Second place will score $100,000 while the third place finisher gets a $50,000 bonus.

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Adriana scored an impressive win in the Tournament of ChampionsCredit: Jeopardy!

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Ryan Manton returns to the Jeopardy! stageCredit: Jeopardy!