JEOPARDY! breakout star Troy Meyer has won fans over with a tearful tribute in the fifth Tournament of Champions finals even if he lost the game- in a blowout.

The beloved pro-quizzer now trails the controversial Yogesh Raut and fan-favorite Ben Chan with $250,000 and a Jeopardy! Masters slot on the line.

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Troy Meyer moved fans with his words about his wife, ‘No one could be more supportive and loving’Credit: Jeopardy

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However, Yogesh Raut had the last word of the game with a runaway winCredit: Jeopardy

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Fans are concerned that Troy is ‘losing endurance’ as he now trails with only one winCredit: Jeopardy
Ken Jennings opened week two of the 2024 ToC finals by showing the standings.

Ben had two wins (admittedly both off $1 Final Jeopardy shockers) to Troy and Yogesh’s one (three wins take the title).

During Monday’s interview segment, the ferocious gameplay took a pause as Ken asked Troy if he’d like to thank anyone.

Troy said, “Well, I think she’d kill me if I didn’t start with her, so I’d like to start by thanking my wife Genevieve, who’s been so supportive of me in this process.”

The audience applauded as Troy grew emotional, “She was on the show, and she understands what it takes.

“No one could be more supportive and loving and I give a lot of credit to her.”

YOGESH CLAIMS BIG 2ND VICTORY

In the Jeopardy! round, Troy nabbed the Daily Double, and Yogesh clawed to a massive score by getting the most clues. He led with $8,800, Troy with $3,600, and Ben with $4,800.

In Double Jeopardy!, Troy found the second Daily Double doubling to $10,400, but he also foundered on a Jewish musical clue (to laughter) and three other incorrect responses.

In came Yogesh (after giving a shout out to Red Bull during his interview), who found the all-important third Daily Double and went all-in to shut out his foes with a massive $30,400.

Going into Final Jeopardy, Yogesh maintained an all-out runaway with $38,800, while Troy had $16,800 and Troy $9,200.

Even Ken pointed out that Troy trailed him by $20,000.

Ben and Troy got Final correct, and Yogesh jokingly wrote, “What Can I do my Game 1 wager over again?” claiming a coveted second victory.

‘PLEASE, TROY!’

Fans were all-in on the finals going to at least six games like the last ToC but worried that Troy, who once seemed like the shoo-in, is getting kicked aside.

“Please let Troy win tomorrow so we get a gut churning game 7 (sorry to the contestants who had to actually live this though!)” one Reddit user wrote.

“Endurance is definitely a factor at this point. Troy was making mental errors that he would probably not make when rested,” wrote another.

“Yeah Troy seemed to lose some steam during his original run too. Games 4 and 5 to be exact. So I had hypothesized that endurance would be a potential issue for him,” wrote a third.

“I was thinking about the endurance factor as well, especially with those two very uncharacteristic misses from Troy (42nd Street and Fiddler),” wrote a fourth.

“No matter who wins this particular tournament, they’re all evenly matched as far as I’m concerned. The ultimate winner will be decided as much by luck as it will be by skill. Still rooting for Troy,” wrote a fifth.

Now, Ben and Yogesh are just one win away from the crown, so it’s less likely that Troy will seize victory unless he wins two in a row.

TROY AND HIS TRIVIA ACE WIFE

Troy is a music executive from Tampa, Florida who dominated last season, earning $214,802 in just six wins.

While he may not have had the longest streak, his entire life seemed to be leading up to his Jeopardy! stint in 2023.

Troy’s wife, Genevieve Sheehan, was a contestant on Jeopardy! back in 2009.

Troy and Genevieve share a son who is 10 and are also expecting a daughter, whom Troy promised to name “Ken-derella” if he wins the ToC.

The married couple anonymously met online on a message board when she, not he, was practicing to compete.

She practiced by playing against fans on the internet, and her first practice game was coincidentally against her now-husband.

Although she lost, she went on to win $165,000 on The Chase, beating James Holzhauer – and won at love.

Genevieve told Tampa news station WTSP, “I certainly didn’t think that I would find my husband through Jeopardy!”

“I was initially intrigued by how good she was,” Troy said.

When they two first faced off as strangers, she beat him.

The pair began exchanging messages when Genevieve was seeing someone. At the time, Troy had just come out of a breakup.

Genevieve told the New York Times in their 2010 wedding announcement, “We started talking about the type of art we liked, our daily routines.”

“It felt weird, the whole internet aspect to this. And she was in a relationship,” Troy said.

“I talked to friends, and they thought I was absolutely nuts.”

They kept in touch as she prepped, but Troy didn’t know what she looked like until her episode aired.

Troy told the New York Times that before then, “I thought she was 55 years old.”

They finally met up in person after she competed.

“Within the first 24 hours we just wanted to be together,” Genevieve told The Times.

Genevieve’s father summed up their love in a winning way at the couple’s wedding.

“Did we care that she lost on the show? No, because in reality, she had won, as she had won her husband,” he said.

Troy was raised by his single mom, Cheryl, who died in 2021, shortly before his initial run – he wore her cardigan during his only finals win last Thursday.

“It was emotional up there without her being there,” Troy previously told WTSP. She is also survived by Troy’s brother, Trevor.

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Troy met his wife when she was practicing to be a contestant on Jeopardy! back in 2009Credit: WTSP

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Troy and his wife Genevieve Sheehan share a son, 10, with one on the wayCredit: Instagram

SITTING CHAMPION

Meanwhile, fans on X, formerly Twitter, have noticed that Troy is sitting during the ToC finals using a chair on his podium.

“Why is Troy sitting down? #Jeopardy,” one wrote.

Another added, “Why was Troy Meyer sitting during #Jeopardy tonight? Is he ok?”

A third joked, “I think Troy is sitting on a chair during #Jeopardy because his brain is super heavy.”

While Troy doesn’t owe anyone an explanation, Jeopardy! bosses spoke about letting him sit when he did so during his last game in 2023.

“Please know that any contestant is given the opportunity to have a chair at any point.

“We would never make people stand, and you’ll see in the coming weeks that we had a contestant who did choose to sit,” Jeopardy! higher-ups explained.

“After their performance, they felt like that may be a better opportunity for them.

“We are not saying no you have to stand and play, we want you to play at your very best. Sitting down is absolutely an option.”

BEN’S ROAD TO REDEMPTION

Ben Chan, a philosophy professor from Green Bay, Wisconsin, amassed nine wins, $252,200 last season.

Ben won all nine of his games in a runaway fashion and is the first contestant ever to do so.

The frisky teacher is a fan favorite, given that he was plucked from obscurity compared to his trivia titan foes.

He also has the most to prove of the three since he had a difficult journey during his initial run last May.

Ben fell ill from Covid and abruptly exited after his third runaway win- his return led to one of the most climatic matches of Season 39, against Hannah Wilson.

When Ben returned, he was pitted against 8-day champ Hannah in a “co-returning champions” scenario that unfortunately led to Hannah’s loss and Ben winning with a massive $60,000.

Hannah later admitted on Reddit: “I couldn’t ask for a better opponent to get utterly thrashed by!”

Then, Ben’s run came to a shocking end on that Benedict Final Jeopardy ruling.

A small spelling mistake on an otherwise correct Final Jeopardy! ended it all, a ruling that fans called “petty and even “awful.”

AND YOGESH, BUT NOT LEAST…

Yogesh won three games and a massive $98,000 in 2023; like Troy, he is a pro-quizzer.

He has a controversial history with the game show and has even had some divisive moments upon his return.

During the semifinals, he was criticized for uttering the correct response to a Daily Double after his opponent missed it.

And during the finals, he oddly pretended like he “didn’t know” the answer to a Daily Double, later sharing on Facebook he “100% did.”

He also drew controversy by blasting Jeopardy! as “not important” and a “glorified reality show” on Facebook upon losing in 2023.

FORMAT FOR FINALS

Like the last Tournament of Champions, the finals are a first-to-three-wins format.

That means Ben, Yogesh, and Troy will continue to duke it out into this week- and it may reach the maximum of seven games.

Each game, their win results in a checkmark on their podium, and three checkmarks will win them the title.

The ToC finals are worth $250,000, a slot in May’s Jeopardy! Masters and the ultimate bragging rights.

Ben and Yogesh now have two wins each, and Troy only one, as they will return tomorrow night for more at 7 pm E.T. on ABC.

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Fans are concerned about Troy’s odds of winning with Yogesh and Ben at two winsCredit: Jeopardy

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Troy struggled with some low-level clues even if they resulted in laughs – fans lamented, ‘Troy seemed to lose some steam during his original run too’Credit: Jeopardy

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Either way, much like Ken Jennings’ last ToC, the battle will rage on to six games if not the maximum of sevenCredit: Jeopardy