[Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for the Friday, January 23, episode of Jeopardy!]
The second-to-last Quarterfinal game of the 2026 Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions was stunning. After two low-scoring games, fans saw another runaway.
Band director Steven Olson, from Princeton, Illinois, played against politics professor Josh Weikert, from Collegeville, Pennsylvania, and attorney Matt Massie, from South Charlestown, West Virginia, on January 23. Whoever wins this game will advance to the semifinals against Paolo Pasco and the game six winner.
Olson and Massie went back and forth for first place during the beginning of the game. On clue 12, Weikert found the Daily Double. With $2,200 in his bank, he wagered $2,000.
In “Tree-Pourri,” the clue read, “Its name meaning ‘enlightenment’, this type of fig tree is sacred to both Hindus & Buddhists.” “What is a lotus?” he answered incorrectly. The correct response was the Bodhi tree. He dropped down to $200.
He answered the next three clues correctly before the commercial break. However, Massie had the lead with $2,800. Olson took the lead by the end of the round with $3,800. Weikert was in second place with $3,600. Massie dropped down to third with $3,000.
In Double Jeopardy, Olson quickly took the lead when he answered clues two and three correctly. He then found the first DD on clue four.
Olson had $7,000 and made it a true Daily Double. In “Colorful Lit,” the clue read, “‘The wide corridor up the center of E Block was floored with linoleum the color of tired old limes’ in this 1996 bestseller.” He correctly answered “What is The Green Mile?”, doubling up to $14,000.
He then found the second DD on clue seven. With $16,00 in his bank, he wagered $3,000. In “Military History,” the clue read, “The largest of the Ryukyu Islands, it was the site of a grueling 1945 battle with 12,000 American & 100,000 Japanese troops killed.”
He correctly responded with Okinawa. This gave him $19,000, $10,000 over his opponents.
Massie and Olson took the rest of the round. However, Olson was so far ahead that Massie couldn’t catch up. Olson ended with $25,800. Massie had a total of $5,800. Weikert had $5,600.
The category for Final Jeopardy was “Capital Cities.” The clue read, “One of the 2 Canadian provincial capitals that share their names with a nation’s capital city.” The correct response was either St. John’s, Newfoundland, and Labrador, or Victoria, British Columbia.
Weikert’s response was, “What an amazing group of people. Thank you so much!” He wagered $0, ending with $5,600. Massie responded, “What Victoria?” He wagered all of his money, ending with $11,600. Olson wrote, “What’s Victoria?” He wagered $7,117, ending with $32,917.
Olson was the winner and advanced to the Semi-Finals. The last quarterfinals game will take place on Monday, January 26.
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