Jeopardy! Ultimate Tournament of Champions

The Jeopardy! Ultimate Tournament of Champions was a special 15-week single-elimination tournament that aired during the 21st season of the syndicated game show Jeopardy! that began airing on February 9, 2005 and concluded on May 25, 2005, covering 76 shows in total. The tournament involved 145 contestants, all of whom were winners of past tournaments or past five-time champions, and was designed to produce two contestants who would face off in a three-game, cumulative-score final against legendary Jeopardy! champion Ken Jennings, who had won the most money in Jeopardy! regular play history and who (entering the tournament) had set a new all-time game show winnings record with US $2,522,700. Those three contestants would then play in a three-game final for the largest prize the show has ever offered: an unprecedented grand prize of U.S. $2,000,000.

After four rounds, the tournament's field of 144 past champions was winnowed to two: Brad Rutter and Jerome Vered. Rutter had set the previous all-time Jeopardy! prize money record in the 2002 Million Dollar Masters tournament, while Vered had set a single-day winnings record in 1992 that (if adjusted for the doubling of clue values) stood for twelve years until Jennings (in his 38th game) broke it.

Rutter decisively won the three-game final, claiming the tournament title and the $2,000,000 prize, while Jennings finished second and collected $500,000, with Vered finishing third and taking home $250,000. All in all, the tournament's contestants won a combined grand total of $5,604,413.

145 contestants participated in the Ultimate Tournament of Champions; they consisted of five-time champions and tournament winners from the show's first 21 seasons. Contestants that were not tournament winners were invited in order of money won on the program until a full field was filled, with Bill Dickenson invited last with $48,401 won in his (pre-doubled) reign. Players who competed before the show doubled its prize amounts had their winnings adjusted as appropriate.

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