Meet Andrew He and James Holzhauer, the winners of the first episode of ‘Jeopardy!’ Masters 2023
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: 'Jeopardy!' Masters returned on May 8, 2023, with six contestants fighting for a chance to win $500,000 and the Trebek Trophy, which was named after the late Alex Trebek who died in 2020 and played host for 37 seasons. The tournament has Amy Schneider, Matt Amodio, Mattea Roach, Sam Buttrey, James Holzhauer and Andrew He fighting tooth and nail to secure the big prize.
‘Jeopardy!’ Masters is a three-week primetime tournament hosted by Ken Jennings with each player expected to appear in every episode, either in the front half of the game or the second half of the game as decided by executive producer, Michael Davies. The winner of each game gets three points, and the second-place contestant has to settle for one. However, when it comes to moving ahead in the competition, a cumulative total is looked at for each contestant. The 10 episodes of the tournament will run from May 8, 2023, to May 24, 2023. In the first game of the show, Andrew, Schneider, and Amodio were pitted against each other while James, Roach, and Buttrey went head to head. Andrew won the first game and came out on top overall because of the higher number of questions he answered correctly. James won the second game and came in second overall. Buttrey and Schneider do away with one point each while Roach and Amodio have zero. The two winners, Andrew and James have a remarkable history in this competition.
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Who are Andrew He and James Holzhauer?
Andrew He who had a total pot of $28,401 by the end of the show is a software engineer from California. Andrew had a successful run with the game show back in 2021 when he set the record for the largest amount ever won in a player’s first game with $52,001. Andrew was then defeated twice by Amy Schneider but he’s back to compete in ‘Jeopardy!’ Masters with the five best contestants that the show has to offer. Andrew is no amateur. He won $159,365 during his Season 38 appearance and also went on to win an additional $100,000, for his 2022 Tournament of Champions runner-up finish, making it a total of $259,365.
James Holzhauer is a man who needs no introduction to the world of ‘Jeopardy!’ When he left the show back in 2019, he took with him a hefty sum of $2.4 million, making him the second-best earner in the game show’s history. However, James wasn’t done yet. He advanced to the No 1 spot for the highest-earned winnings in one episode with $131,127. While joining the cast of the current ‘Jeopardy!’ Masters tournament, James while looking at the show’s poster said that a new supervillain has joined, addressing himself as the troublemaker for every other contestant.
When will ‘Jeopardy!' Masters air next?
‘Jeopardy!’ Masters will continue this week with additional games on May 9, May 10 and May 12 respectively. The highest-scoring contestants will advance to the second week to compete on May 15, May 16 and May 17. The semifinals air on May 22 and 23, and the winner of the ‘Jeopardy!’ Masters will be decided on May 24.
‘Jeopardy!’ Masters premiered on Monday, May 8, 2023, at 8 pm, EST on ABC. The fans of the show can also stream the competition on Hulu.