# Jeopardy: Tournament of Champions Question... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 9, 2011, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-tournament-of-champions-question/602402 "2011-11-09T16:26:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![McDeath\_the\_Mad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a3d4f5/32.png) [@McDeath\_the\_Mad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/McDeath_the_Mad)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2011, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-tournament-of-champions-question/602402/1 "2011-11-09T16:26:22Z")
My wife and I are having a friendly disagreement about the current ToC on Jeopardy. Do the contestants get to keep the money they win, or is it only used for advancing onto the semi finals? I think that they do get to keep their money, even the 2nd and 3rd place people. My only reasoning for this is the fact that after the game is over the totals on the 2nd and 3rd place screens don’t zero out, or change to $2000 and $1000. Can anyone tell me who’s right? Also as an aside, both my wife and I think it would be nice when the ToC contestants get announced at the beginning of the show they should say how many days they were champion and how much they actually won. MtM ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2011, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-tournament-of-champions-question/602402/2 "2011-11-09T16:32:37Z")
winners don’t get to keep the money. they just advance ---
**Author:** ![McDeath\_the\_Mad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a3d4f5/32.png) [@McDeath\_the\_Mad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/McDeath_the_Mad)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2011, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-tournament-of-champions-question/602402/3 "2011-11-09T16:57:49Z")
Do second and third keep theirs? MtM ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2011, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-tournament-of-champions-question/602402/4 "2011-11-09T17:05:10Z")
> [@PSXer](#): > > winners don’t get to keep the money. they just advance Um. . .you need to phrase that in the form of a question, dude. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2011, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-tournament-of-champions-question/602402/5 "2011-11-09T17:38:16Z")
I’m really liking this ToC. No pikers here! ---
**Author:** ![Kingspades](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecae2f/32.png) [@Kingspades](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kingspades)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2011, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-tournament-of-champions-question/602402/6 "2011-11-09T18:06:06Z")
> [@McDeath\_the\_Mad](#): > > Do second and third keep theirs? No; players eliminated in the quarterfinals get a flat $5,000 and those eliminated in the semifinals receive $10,000. I can’t find anything on the official “Jeopardy!” website that lists the prizes, but here are some pages from the J-Archive for the last ToC held in May 2010: [Quarterfinal game](http://www.j-archive.com/showgame.php?game_id=3387) [Semifinal game](http://www.j-archive.com/showgame.php?game_id=3392) [Final game](http://www.j-archive.com/showgame.php?game_id=3396) Scroll down to the bottom of each page, where you’ll see the final scores and prizes just above the game scores graph. ---
**Author:** ![Stainz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecd19e/32.png) [@Stainz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stainz)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2011, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-tournament-of-champions-question/602402/7 "2011-11-09T19:47:04Z")
Answer: This person is correct. Question: Who is McDeath’s wife? BOOYAH!!! 😛 - Stainz, McDeath the Mad’s better half. ---
**Author:** ![MilTan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@MilTan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MilTan)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2011, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeopardy-tournament-of-champions-question/602402/8 "2011-11-09T20:15:24Z")
> [@McDeath\_the\_Mad](#): > > I think that they do get to keep their money, even the 2nd and 3rd place people. My only reasoning for this is the fact that after the game is over the totals on the 2nd and 3rd place screens don’t zero out, or change to $2000 and $1000. They do this because you can qualify for later rounds of the ToC even if you don’t win your qualifier by having a high enough score. Some people who came in second (and maybe even some that came in third in particularly high scoring games) might still make it to the next round. So your score matters, even if you didn’t win.