Jeopardy! champion Jennifer Quail furiously SLAMS the show for giving an ‘unfair advantage’ to certain players – after she was eliminated from the tournament

A former danger! The champion raised concerns about the lineup for this week’s Invitational Tournament edition of the beloved game show, claiming that certain veteran players were given an advantage over relative newcomers.

Michigan-based author Jennifer Quail first appeared on Jeopardy! in 2019, she won eight matches and almost $230,000, making her the second most successful female contestant in the show’s history.

When live-tweeting the last of three semifinal rounds of the Jeopardy! Invitational Tournament (JIT) on Thursday evening, Quail noted that the winners of the first and second semifinal rounds – Amy Schneider and Andrew He – were both previously on the Masters Tournament 2023which aired last May.

Quail himself was eliminated in the first semi-final of the JIT on Tuesday, losing to Schneider.

Because of the danger! Semifinals of the Invitational Tournament (JIT), it looked like a rematch would take place between Amy Schneider (right), Andrew He (center) and Steve Buttrey

The second JIT finalist, who won in the second semi-final on Wednesday, was He.

In the final round of the JIT semi-finals on Thursday evening, one of the contenders was another Masters champion, Sam Buttrey, playing alongside Matt Jackson and Victoria Groce.

As she watched the game unfold, Quail tweeted that she thought Schneider, He and Buttrey should have been paired together in one of the semifinals this week.

After all, unlike the competition, the trio had almost a year’s notice period in the run-up to the JIT, Jennifer argued, after having played in the Masters matches last year.

To make matters even more egregious, the very same trio, Buttrey, He and Schneider, had already faced each other in the final round of the 2022 Tournament of Champions – with Schneider ultimately winning the top prize.

As Quail wrote in a tweet Thursday evening, “Look, yesterday and today is why I feel like the three people who knew they would be here a year in advance should have played each other in the semifinals or quarterfinals, because we said ‘It makes no difference, it would just be a Masters repeat.’

As The Sun reportedother social media users were also upset about the somewhat unfair advantage Schneider, He and Buttrey had had heading into the JIT competition.

Thanks to their presence at Masters, Schneider, He and Buttrey reportedly had nine months to prepare for JIT – while other contenders were given just three weeks’ notice.

Quail expressed her ambivalence by advocating for “one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet,” Sam Buttrey, as that would have set up yet another rematch between Buttrey, He and Schneider.

Quail’s concerns that the JIT finals would be a rematch between Schneider, He and Buttrey never came to fruition – as Pittsburgh’s Victoria Groce defeated Buttrey in the semifinals

Groce won a game of Jeopardy! in 2005, and has since risen to prominence in the international quiz community

‘It’s a shame that they are not on an equal footing in terms of preparation time. It would have been great to see everyone playing in top form,” someone on social media told The Sun.

The way things played out in Thursday night’s match, it seemed for a while that Buttrey might indeed take third place in the JIT final.

Had that been the outcome, the three 2024 JIT finalists would all have also been former 2023 Masters participants – with the JIT Finals also hosting a three-way rematch of the 2022 Tournament of Champions finalists.

The potential for that lineup also left Jennifer feeling mixed about her support for Buttrey, who she described as “one of the nicest people.”

“The hardest part about watching this semi-final: Sam Buttrey is one of the nicest people you will ever meet, and after two-thirds of the Masters veterans were there it was very hard to root for him,” she tweeted.

Whatever the implications for the fairness of the semifinal matches, Jennifer’s fears proved unfounded as Pittsburgh’s Groce ultimately defeated Sam Buttrey for the third and final finalist spot in the 2024 JIT.

Groce was a one-match champion on Jeopardy! all the way back in 2005, and has since risen up in the world of competitive quizzing.

She also took part in the quiz show The Chase in 2022, scheduled as a ‘chaser’ (one of the challengers to each game’s hopefuls) known as ‘The Queen’.

“The Queen saves us from a final made up exclusively of ex-Masters,” Quail tweeted about Groce’s victory.

She added, “Although it’s sad to have to take out the one everyone loves.”