JEOPARDY! sensation Sam Buttrey has won over fans all over again with a huge $29,601 victory in the show’s Invitational mini-tournament on Monday.

The 63-year-old Steve Martin clone beat Colby Burnett and Lilly Chin with a bold Daily Double move to become the JIT’s last semifinalist.

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Jeopardy!’s trivia treasure Sam Buttrey won the match off a $10,000 Daily DoubleCredit: Jeopardy!

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Fans could not get over how much he’s a Daily Double for actor Steve MartinCredit: AP

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‘Can’t believe how uncanny the resemblance is,’ viewers posted, and ‘It always baffles me’Credit: Jeopardy!
The JIT features 27 game show greats fighting for $100,000 and a slot in May’s Jeopardy Masters.

The newly retired professor who opted to be introduced as “Bon Vivant & Man About Town” came in a fan-favorite but still had much to prove.

He faced heavyweights in Colby, who won the 2013 Tournament of Champions, and Lilly, who won the 2017 College Championship.

Sam most recently competed in Masters Season 1, where his less-than-stellar performance saw him finish last and be booted out of the annual special.

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With a shot to get back into Masters, Sam brought the jokes but also some serious gameplay.

After the Jeopardy! round, Colby (mainly from a Daily Double) led with $4,800, Sam – who explained he’s “living la vida loca!” now that he’s retired – right behind with $4,600, and Lilly had $2,000.

Lilly battled back to take the lead, but an incorrect Daily Double killed her momentum, while Sam found the last Daily Double betting “every scintilla of his money,” doubling up to $20,000.

Going into Final Jeopardy, Sam led with $24,400, Colby had $14,800 and Lilly had $3,000

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The deciding clue under “Novel Title Objects,” read, “A girl in a 1950 novel walks into this & “got in among the coats and rubbed her face against them.”

Only Sam correctly responded, “Wardrobe,” adding $5,201 to advance to the semifinals and close the book on his foes with a commanding total.

ONLY WINNERS IN THE BUILDING

Fans flooded social media, unable to ignore how uncannily similar Sam looks to Steve Martin.

“Legit, first time I saw Sam appear on Jeopardy! I really thought it was Steve Martin. Can’t believe how uncanny the resemblence is. Literal dopplegangers lol,” one Reddit user wrote.

“I think Sam Buttrey should have a cameo appearance on Steve Martin’s Only Murders in the Building,” wrote another.

“No matter how many times I see him it always baffles me how much he can look like Steve Martin,” wrote a third.

Other fans just loved to see one of the most popular players around win out as he could now buzz his way back into Masters.

“Sam Buttrey is that rara avis, an older person whose buzzer skills and rapid recall are on a par with his broad knowledge base. What an inspiration!” a fourth Reddit user wrote.

“Obsessed with Sam,” wrote another, and a sixth, “‘No cap, Kennewick.’ The return of the LEGEND.”

Another wrote, “Sam has become a fully self-aware enlightened meta version of himself. I admire it!”

Indeed, Sam couldn’t come back without wielding his signature catchphrase “Bring It!”

‘AMUSING COMPARISON’

Sam has won over hoards of fans for his huge personality and hilarious stage presence in his three previous appearances.

He used an on-stage anecdote to reveal that he’s a SoundCloud beatmaker and makes “offensive” parody songs as a side project.

Speaking of comedic musicians, Sam has acknowledged on stage that he knows he’s a dead ringer for Steve Martin.

“Apparently, a lot of people thought I looked like Steve Martin, and I was all over the internet,” he once told Ken Jennings.

“And that’s an amusing comparison to me – I like it because not only is he a hilarious comedian, thoughtful writer, a gifted musician…”

Sam added, turning straight to the camera with a deadpan expression: “But he’s also famous for being the most handsome man in the world.”

Sam also went viral after the Masters tournament aired for an eerie story he told on stage about turning down an invite to a Titanic wreckage tour.

The U.S. Sun reported he was very likely referring to one of the two previous successful missions on the since-fatal submersible Titan.

Sam made $50,000 from Masters, $50,000 for placing third in the 2022 ToC, and $100,000 from the 2021 Professor’s Tournament.

That brings his earnings to $200,000 from tournament play alone, as he was never a regular play contestant.

He’s also one of the most popular current Jeopardy! players around which doesn’t have a price tag.

HOW ‘BRING IT’ WAS BORN

During the 2022 ToC, Sam’s signature catchphrase was born, and the rest is history.

He began exclaiming, “Bring it!” when selecting the last clue on the board – which proved hilarious since the remaining question is usually the least desirable.

“Bring it!” caught on, and contestants have continued using it ever since as a nod to him.

Sam recently explained how he came up with the catchphrase on the show’s podcast Inside Jeopardy!.

He shared: “I’ve always been struck by this weird thing where there’s one clue left [on the board].

“Nobody knows what to do.”

“Do you wait and have Ken or Mayim say, ‘and now the final clue?’”

“Or do you get out ahead of them and say, ‘I’ll also take the $200 clue?’”

“There’s never been a policy for that, so I thought I’d get ahead of it.

“And I don’t know that ‘Bring It’ was the particular phrase that I had planned.

“But there it was, and I had the call for it, and it became clear that people liked it; my fellow competitors have used it.”

WHAT IS: THE JIT?

The JIT is a brand-new tournament with 27 producer-picked power players from throughout the games show’s history, it premiered on March 20.

Unlike other tournaments this season, JIT opened the floodgates to iconic older champions who fans haven’t seen in decades.

The three-week JIT also includes Amy Schneider and Andrew He, who, like Sam, are back for redemption after placing bottom three in Masters Season 1.

All three are now semifinalists which means one of them could very likely win a hard-fought invite back.

JIT also even features contestants-turned-Chasers on ABC’s The Chase – all coming out of the woodwork to see who’s the best.

There were nine quarterfinal games, three semifinals, which will kick off on Tuesday, April 2, and a best-of-four final.

The finals will air from April 5 until April 8 or 10, depending on the results.

The legendary player who notches two final games wins the title, so it could be over in two games or last up to four.

The spot in the Jeopardy! Masters Season 2 is a coveted prize as the event features the six highest-ranked champions annually.

Masters Season 2 will air in May on ABC in primetime, and each year, the JIT will be its qualifying event allowing one great to advance.

The JIT also allows breakout stars who fell short, say the ToC’s Troy Meyer and Ben Chan, a chance to settle the score in future years.

Masters’ first three spots were guaranteed to last year’s finalists – Matt Amodio, reigning champion James Holzhauer, and Mattea Roach.

The other Masters slots go to Yogesh Raut for winning the 2024 Tournament of Champions and a still-unannounced Producer’s Pick who can be anyone.

After JIT, regular episodes resume for the first time this season next week between April 9 and April 11.

SEMIFINALISTS REVEALED

Here are the other contestants who won their first matches and are now semifinalists:

Andrew He won the premiere after getting knocked down from Masters Season 1 having placed 4th.

Larissa Kelly, who previously won the 2019 All-Star Games and was the 2009 ToC runner-up.

Matt Jackson returned for a big $41,321 win after winning 13 games in 2015.

Amy Schneider had a runaway win after also getting knocked out of Masters Season 1 placing 5th.

David Madden, a 19-day champ from 2005, won after a hotly-contested Daily Double cost Arthur Chu the game.

Jennifer Quail – runner-up in the 2021 ToC and Sam Kavanaugh – who won the 2021 ToC, both mounted shocking come-from-behind victories.

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Notably, Victoria’s one-day streak in 2005 saw her end Madden’s 19-day streak, so a rematch between them in the semifinals or finals would not be without its poetry.

Jeopardy! airs at 7 pm ET on ABC, where fans can catch all the JIT action with the semifinals starting tomorrow.

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Sam, who gave viewers a classic ‘Bring It!,’ is older than the average champ, and he wowed fans with his ‘buzzer skills and rapid recall!’Credit: Jeopardy!

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Ken Jennings hosts the brand-new JIT, which is a qualifier for May’s Jeopardy! Masters, until mid-April when regular play resumes at lastCredit: Jeopardy!