- [Sam] Awww!
Cute.
- [Buzzy] They're so little.
- [Sam] Little broccoli florets.
- [Jennifer] Oh my goodness.
- [Buzzy] If one of them isn't named Floret,
I'm going to be very disappointed.
(dramatic music)
- [Sarah] Hello everyone and welcome.
I first just want to say congratulations
to Veronica and Sam and Jennifer for making it to the finals
and the Tournament of Champions.
And for Buzzy Cohen for hosting it.
(Buzzy laughs)
- [Jennifer] Yay Buzzy!
- [Veronica] Woo!
- Yeah, congratulations to you guys.
- [Sarah] How is everyone feeling?
We'll start with you, Sam.
- Overwhelmed.
It's, I mean, really just keep trying
to keep things together at this point.
All of these games so far have been amazing
and having played Veronica and
I kind of know what I'm up against.
It's not an easy task, so I'm excited.
- [Sarah] Yeah, you brought it up.
It's going to be a rematch.
Veronica and Sam in the finals.
Veronica, how do you feel about that?
- Oh, Sam's a tough competitor.
You know, that first quarterfinal game,
it was a real brawl, but it was a lot of fun.
I mean, that's what I like about the game,
it's like you know, when you get a good set of competitors,
and you're just like, go, go, go the whole time.
It's really a great time.
- [Sarah] Jennifer, talk about great competitors.
I know everyone was really afraid of Jason Zuffranieri.
- Ohhh, we were sitting up there, waiting to go
for the semi-finals, after they called the first one.
Jason, there were six of us still up there,
and Jason pointed at Nibir and me and himself.
And I'm like, I hope you're wrong.
But the semi-final was the most nervous
I think I've ever been playing "Jeopardy!".
That was, I knew I was up against
two really, really strong people.
And I was just thinking, oh boy,
and this is the one I have to win.
I can't keep playing if I don't win this game.
There's no wildcard spots.
I had a good round.
That was really intense.
But it was a lot of fun too.
I mean, just getting to play "Jeopardy!" is the best part.
And that's why I want to win, so I can keep playing.
- Hundreds of players competed in this qualifying time.
You guys are the final three.
What does that feel like, Jennifer?
- It's nice to have gotten this far.
It's kind of like, all right, I can relax a little bit.
I'm in the final.
No matter how it plays out at this point,
I made it really, really far,
and I have had so much fun getting here.
It's all gravy.
The crew's probably sick of hearing me say that,
trying to talk myself into being calm between matches.
But everything from the first game I played,
all the way up to here,
it's just like from the first win on, it's just all fun.
It's one more chance to play "Jeopardy!".
- [Sarah] People want to know,
what's it like behind the scenes?
What are some of the fun stories
we don't get to see during the show?
We'd love to hear some insight into that.
Anything you have for us, Veronica?
- Well, you know, the great thing about the tournament
is all of the contestants stay together.
We spend all day together,
and we really get to know each other.
So that's really the fun part about the tournament
is, you know, we all have the same interests.
We love playing "Jeopardy!",
and we all know that we're all really great competitors
and it's fun.
And you know, there's a little bit of a competitive spirit,
but mostly we're just enjoying each other's company,
and enjoying being with people
who have the same interests as us.
- Buzzy, as a player who knows that the comradery lives on.
I know you're really good friends
with a lot of former "Jeopardy!" contestants.
Speak to that a little bit for us.
- Yeah, that was something that I was interested
to hear from them about,
because with, you know, COVID and everything
and coming back and you know,
all these champions played with Alex.
You know, what was it like to come back
and be in the studio for that.
And so, I was really happy to hear from them
that they were all, you know, hanging out,
having fun and making jokes.
And it just, it's such a special community of people,
and I'm just honored to be a part of it.
And I'm, like, honored to be a part of this part
of all of your stories because you are fantastic players.
- [Sarah] Well, you kept it pretty buttoned up
during all the, you know, questions and responses.
But during those post-game chats at the end,
I feel like you really had a chance to talk with everyone.
Anything you want to share?
- Yeah, that was really fun because I, you know,
I've been there and I know that whether you've just won,
or just lost, or just maybe are on the bubble
and trying to figure out if you're a wild card,
or whatever it is.
You kind of just want to get off the stage.
And like, and so it was, but also,
it's great to be able to kind of like, do a little bit
of a post-mortem on the game and debrief on it.
And so, it was really fun
and they're such great players
and I love talking "Jeopardy!".
And so, it was just like talking shop with a bunch
of other people who like, love Jeopardy almost as much
as I do, or maybe as much as I do.
I don't want to get competitive,
but people who love "Jeopardy!" the same way that I do.
So that was amazing.
And, you know, not knowing any of these players personally,
it was a great chance to just kind of like connect.
You know, when somebody had missed a final,
it'd be like, yeah, that was a tough final.
You know, I can't believe any of you got it.
So it was really, really great.
- What was it like talking shop with Buzzy Cohen, players?
- At least for me, you put me at ease up on the stage.
Just like, oh, like he knows what it's like
on this side of it.
You know you're still like, you know,
the material obviously,
and you know, like how the game flows.
And so like, I guess one of the big question marks
going into it was, like you said,
like we'd all played with Alex and not really knowing,
at first not knowing who the host was going to be.
And like, and then not knowing what
that cadence is going to be like and all of that.
But at least from where I'm sitting,
you did a remarkable job
kind of living up to those expectations, I think.
- Thank you.
- Veronica, did you want to say something?
- [Veronica] Such a big part of my preparation
the first time around was listening
to old episodes of Jeopardy
and just listening to Alex's voice.
And I had it on my phone,
and I would just listen all day long.
And not even necessarily try to play along,
but just listen to his voice
and just get it really embedded in my brain,
so that it would feel totally natural when I went onstage.
And then, of course I couldn't do that this time around
because I didn't know who was going to be the host.
And I, you know, didn't have old episodes
for whoever was going to be hosting.
So I was very nervous about that,
but Buzzy made it feel just totally natural.
And I didn't even think about the fact
that it was a different voice I was hearing
when I was up there.
- That was really what I found impressive was,
I was worried about that.
I timed so much off of Alex's voice and the lights.
And then your rhythm, I could tell,
I'm thinking, did he study how Alex did this
to get the rhythm that close?
Because I'm not feeling a huge difference.
I've been watching the guest hosts obviously,
and I'm thinking, wow, that's different.
That's not the way I remember hearing it.
And it was just like, oh, okay.
Yeah, Buzzy knows what it's like to be up here.
He knows what's going to make us comfortable.
He knew Alex, so, okay, this is good.
I thought you did a really great job.
I was kind of pleased somebody
who was sort of in the Alex players' club
with all of the rest of us was up there.
Cause you know how weird it was going to be for us, too.
- [Buzzy] Yeah, really touched that I was able
to do that for you guys.
My TOC was like such a highlight
for me getting to be back there.
And I was really committed and I had a lot of help,
especially from Sarah, getting ready for this
and just making sure that whatever,
like I was out of the way,
and it was just you all and the material.
And that was really what my goal was.
So I'm really happy to hear that, you know,
it wasn't too much of a stumbling block.
- No.
- Not at all.
- [Sarah] Sam, you had the longest amount of time
to kind of watch the competition stack up,
since you were one of the first to qualify.
What was that like?
- Yeah, I think that there's obviously
some really positive things in that I could really study,
and figure out what I didn't know,
and try to bulk up on that.
But, in some ways, it's almost too much time,
in that I could just like really get lost in the weeds
in certain things and I'd have to refocus myself.
But it's funny, Jennifer, after your first game,
I remember watching that game and just being like,
seeing you with a huge runaway and a huge bet,
and just thinking, oh no, I might have to play her.
And then, the same with Veronica
on your fourth game, I think.
You had quite a big runaway,
and like, with a runaway, that's betting real money.
Like, and there's no reason that Veronica needed to bet
and she just like, threw 10,000 on the table,
and just like, yeah, let's go with this.
And so like, I'm just seeing both of those.
I'm like, wow, these are, you know,
obviously very knowledgeable and intelligent people.
But like, there's a lot of guts there too,
that I just have to, you know,
I'm trying not to focus on myself at the moment.
Just because that's kind of throwing me off a little bit.
But like looking at the competition,
and just like, I don't know how to say,
I mean, you two in particular,
but all of the players here,
just have so much respect for you as players.
It's really fun to watch and hopefully, you know,
can be fun to play against, too.
- Well, Buzzy, no one knows about quarterfinal matches
and semi-finals like you do, but you're seeing it
from a whole different perspective this time.
Talk about that.
- Yeah, you know, it was really fun to get
to be back in the studio for a Tournament of Champions.
These players were so great.
And just to be back in that mix,
and feel the intensity pick-up when you get
into those semifinals,
and all of these match-ups were just so much fun.
You know, I had a little bit of time
with the material beforehand,
but then seeing these players get to like dig in,
and really, like, tackle these hard questions,
hard "Final Jeopardy!"s.
It was such a blast.
- I know we felt it in the studio.
You're genuine, like you were the best cheerleader for them.
Not only were you hosting, but you were rooting for them.
And I think all of our players would agree,
they could feel that.
- [Sam] Yeah.