u/ajsy0905

Apart from Virgo, Onya & Ginger M, Bones' overall win was vilified by the online community as they think that she "did not deserve" to become UK's 7th Drag Superstar and still think that Paige Three should had took Bones' place instead of seeing Bones won the last 2 maxi challenges.

In the post-Paige epsiode, Elle Vosque was stronger than Bones in both track Record & fan-made PPE while Bones has more badge count than Elle prior to the finale.

Do you think RuPaul, WOW & BBC made the wrong decision of having sent Paige home or they justified Paige's elimination because Bones still has more potential to win the crown especially she won the final 2 maxi challenges (Makeover & Roast) over Paige?

So, which of the potential SCC players might be the next Juveria Zaheer, Drew Goins, Will Yancy, Michelle Tsai, Ryan Sharpe, or Long Nguyen? How many spots will be given at the next SCC: 18 or 27? (I decided to add another layer of consideration: buzzer attempts).

Here is the longlist so far:

Non-Winning Player	Lost to	No. of Correct Response (including FJ)	No. of Wrong Response (including FJ)	Coryat Score	Pre-FJ Score	Led Prior to FJ	Buzzer Attempts	Note
Rachel Bernstein	Harrison Whitaker (5th win)	19	2	$13,000	$13,000	No	40	Lost via runaway
Wilder Seitz	Harrison Whitaker (14th win)	16	5 (2 wrong responses came from DD)	$11,800	$500	No	31	Special Case (1)
Eli Selzer	Libby Jones (2nd win)	26	2	$18,000	$23,000	No	44
Jenna LaFleur	Will Riley (2nd win)	18	3	$14,600	$14,400	No	40
Eddie Kass	Will Riley (3rd win)	21	3	$18,200	$13,800	Yes	40
Francis Boyle	Will Riley (4th win)	19	6	$12,600	$5,200	No	38	Lost via runaway
Christa Fidel	James Hirsh (1st win)	16	0	$15,600	$15,600	No	33	Competitive Game; Special Case (2)
Kevin Kodama	James Hirsh (2nd win)	22	3	$20,200	$5,000	No	32	Crucial DD3 miss; Lost via runaway
Marissa Klein	Noah Hamilton (1st win)	17	6	$11,600	$2,000	No	35	Lost all 3 TDD
Aahil Makhani	Quentin Powers (2nd win)	18	8	$8,400	$4,800	No	40
Sapana Vora	James Denison (3rd win)	17	2	$11,400	$13,200	No	35
Luke Minton	Jamie Ding (4th win)	22	3	$14,400	$14,400	No	47
David Ley	Jamie Ding (6th win)	18	6	$10,400	$15,200	No	32
Max Genecov	Jamie Ding (7th win)	23	3	$16,800	$9,800	No	44	Lost via runaway; Note (3)
Emmett Laurie	Jamie Ding (16th win)	10	3	$11,400	$17,200	No	29	Special Case Note (4)
Maggie Faucher	Jamie Ding (18th win)	17	6	$8,400	$7,400	No	40	Lost via runaway
Dominex Kovacs	Jamie Ding (19th win)	12	2	$11,800	$17,600	Yes	30	Special Case Note (5)
Taotao Zhang	Jamie Ding (26th win)	18	4	$13,200	$8,400	No	43	Lost via runaway
Lydia Sekscenski	Jamie Ding (28th win)	18	10 (2 wrong responses came from DD)	$5,800	$400	No	44
Max Ernst	Jamie Ding (28th win)	13	2	$10,800	$10,800	No	26	Note (6)
Patrick Nolan	Jamie Ding (30th win)	19	1	$17,600	$28,000	No	35
Chris Argento	Greg Shahade (2nd win)	18	2	$10,800	$10,800	No	35
Matt Davis	Madeline Kaplan (1st win)	22	2	$15,600	$15,600	No	40	Note (7)
Robert Yan	Tristan Williams (2nd win)	20	4	$12,200	$9,200	No	41	Note (8)
Helen Yoas	Tristan Williams (2nd win)	13	3	$12,600	$12,600	Yes	33	Special Case Note (8)
Anne Benjaminson	Tristan Williams (7th win)	18	7	$9,600	$9,600	No	37
Thomas Trovato	Tristan Williams (9th win)	19	3	$8,400	$1,200	No	34	Lost via runaway
Rose Sloan	Tristan Williams (10th win)	20	4	$14,200	$16,700	No	36
Liz Guinn	Chris D'Angelo (2nd win)	15	2	$11,000	$11,000	No	28	Special Case Note (9)
J.R. Scott	Chris D'Angelo (6th win)	19	6	$13,000	$13,600	No	34
Gil Hamel	Peter McFerrin (3rd win)	22	6	$13,000	$13,000	No	43	Note (10)
Gabriel Berkowitz	Peter McFerrin (3rd win)	15	3	$10,000	$8,800	No	35	Competitive Game; Note (10)
Webster Guan	Peter McFerrin (4th win)	16	5	$11,400	$13,600	Yes	33	Note (11)
Alejandro Sobalvarro	Peter McFerrin (6th win)	16	2	$11,400	$15,600	No	30	Note (12)
Benjy Malings	Adam Remsen (2nd win)	18	7	$11,800	$7,900	No	33
Tyler Stevenson	Adam Remsen (5th win)	20	6	$13,600	$12,000	No	43	Lost via runaway
Joey Tebben	Adam Remsen (8th win)	18	4	$8,200	$8,200	No	37	Lost via runaway
Wayne Kobylinski	Adam Remsen (9th win)	13	3	$9,400	$12,200	No	36	Special Case Note (13)
Derek Lombardi	Adam Remsen (10th win)	17	3	$11,400	$18,000	No	33
Kate Raven	Adam Remsen (10th win)	16	1 (single mistake was from FJ)	$13,600	$13,600	No	35	Competitive Game
Andy Briseño	Caleb Groen (1st win)	18	4	$12,200	$12,200	No	46
Amber Born	Caleb Groen (2nd win)	24	4	$13,800	$13,800	No	41
Michael Yates	Caleb Groen (4th win)	16	2	$10,200	$10,600	No	30	Crucial DD3 miss; Note (14)
Jessica Davis	Caleb Groen (4th win)	16	5	$10,600	$10,600	No	45	Competitive Game
Taylor A'Latorre	Caleb Groen (5th win)	19	2	$12,800	$12,800	No	40	Lost via runaway
Andy Strange	Caleb Groen (12th win)	10	3	$9,600	$12,400	No	35	Special Case Note (16); Caleb has 37 correct responses (including FJ) despite he missed 2 DDs.
Jacqueline Ziegler	Matthew Riggle (1st win)	17	2	$12,800	$12,800	No	39	Note (17)
Devin Weinberg	Matthew Riggle (2nd win)	22	2	$12,400	$13,400	No	36

My version of threshold is either:
Non-Runaway pre-FJ: 17 correct responses (including FJ) and/or Coryat score of at least $14,000
Runaway pre-FJ: 18 correct responses and/or Coryat score of at least $14,000

It is now getting more competitive than ever in this new eligibility period.

Note:

(1) Crucial DD miss that would had been the "giant killer" of Harrison instead of Libby.

(2) Christa is competed against 2 champions (2 game champion Trey Hart & 3 game champion James Hirsh).

(3) Crucial DD miss but the final outcome will not be changed had Max got DD right because both Max & Jamie got FJ right.

(4) Crucial DD correct response that gave him a chance to unseat Jamie & become a "giant killer" but the outcome did not change since Jamie got the FJ right & chances of being selected to compete at SCC might be low.

(5) Crucial DD correct response that gave him a chance to unseat Jamie & become a "giant killer" which he led prior to FJ but he lost via triple stumper.

(6) Competitive Game that gave him a chance to unseat Jamie & become a "giant killer" but chances of being selected to compete at SCC might be low.

(7) Matt D is competed against 2 champions (1 game champion Stephanie Perkins & 1 game champion Madeline Kaplan).

(8) Helen was led prior to FJ because of Tristan & Robert's wrong DD in DJ round that led both men tied for 2nd place. Helen lost because her FJ wrong while Robert lost because of Tristan's aggressive all in FJ wager while Robert chose to make a safe bet that would had won the game instead of Tristan since Helen got FJ wrong but both men got it right that led to Tristan's 2nd win.

(9) Liz would had won the game vs Chris in a double stumper had Chris made standard bet but Chris small bet made his 2nd win instead of Liz.

(10) Either Gil or Gabriel would had won against Peter if they would had bet properly in the FJ but both ended up losing to Peter in a triple stumper.

(11) Just like Dominex & Helen, Webster led prior to FJ but with his incorrect FJ response that costed him the game while Peter got FJ right.

(12) Crucial back to back DD correct responses that gave him a chance to unseat Peter but the outcome did not change since Peter got the FJ right while Alejandro wasn't & chances of being selected to compete at SCC is currently at 50-50 since there were more non-winning players performed better than him.

(13) Crucial DD correct responses that gave him a chance to unseat Adam but the outcome did not change since Adam got the FJ right & chances of being selected to compete at SCC might be low.

(14) Michael was leading until DD3 where he tried to extend the lead over Caleb & possibly would had won the game with great confidence since all 3 players got FJ right had he got DD3 response right but he got DD3 response wrong & lost the momentum.

(15) Kristal LeMaistre (from Caleb Groen's 7th win) would have been considered for the longlist, but with so many wrong responses (10 wrong responses, including Final Jeopardy, vs 15 correct responses and a $200 Coryat), she might be bypassed by the producers despite having 40 buzzer attempts.

(16) Crucial DD correct response that gave him a chance to unseat Caleb & become a "giant killer" but the outcome did not change since Caleb got the FJ right & chances of being selected to compete at SCC might be low.

(17) Jacqueline is competed against 2 champions (1 game champion Dean Zach & current 2 game champion Matthew Riggle). She also pulled a comeback as she outbuzzed Dean after Dean's back to back True Daily Double in DJ round.

Disclaimer: This is just a guide, the final decision is still in the hands of the producers that will be announced the official roster before the end of 2026.

Next week, I will post a poll for this batch.

It has been whining on social media on why they needed a 6-7 week hiatus during summer like these comments from J! FB page and some of them suggested that instead of tournaments that held on that season they wanted to re-air classic Trebek episodes during the pandemic.

In your opinion why these tournaments are essential to the summer rerun instead of re-airing the best games from regular season like in Season 38?

I have seen lots of major brands trying to promote BTS for the upcoming concert in my country next year but since BTR made a comeback 5 years ago, their series of concerts (Forever Tour, Can't Get Enough & In Real Life Worldwide) they don't have any backing from Nickelodeon and no major brands to sponsor their concerts yet they were able to fill up concert venues like Madison Square Garden in 2022, Kia Forum in 2023, Ziggo Dome in 2024 & 2025 and Intuit Dome in 2025. Is it the right time for the next series of BTR concerts to be more aggressive or will it defeat the purpose of an independent band as they have more freedom & flexible in how to organize & manage these concerts?

In the final 5 regular seasons of CSI, we saw the unexpected scene that Greg is finally got his licensed firearm in Season 11 episode Targets of Obsession (although in Cold Blooded he has a gun in the promotional photo & a very fast scene during the chase against the suspect). Is the producers trying to shed his good boy persona into more aggressive CSI?

Headed to the grand finale, Le Filip was the weakest in both track records & fan-made PPE among the 4 finalists, but when the finale came, she performed very well in the individual finale challenge that made her a crown contender for the Lip Sync For the Crown which she eventually named as France's 3rd Drag Superstar.

Who do you think is your player of the season?

View Poll

>It’s been a minute, but we couldn’t be more excited to see you! Lets make up for lost time.

It has been 5 years since the unexpected return of Big Time Rush but with lots of challenges along the way since their comeback is in the middle of mass vaccination vs COVID & the start of recovery in the live concert venues.

They did not start big especially they went on hiatus for 7 years and the ill-effects of COVID plus they are independent from Nickelodeon. They started with mid-sized venues in December 2021 for their test run if they still have it and it did. And the rest is history as the music goers continued to fill up the arenas & amphitheaters around the world especially with the 200,000+ tickets sold in Europe alone on their In Real Life Worldwide concert.

As they headed for a long break after their successful of series of concerts in the past 5 years, what will be the new challenges for them once they are ready to go back in the concert scene with new music to offer?

It seemed that these 4 non-winning players during Alex DeFrank's streak were bypassed as among the 27 SCC players despite they (except Adam) have the chance to unseat Alex from competing at TOC.

Here are their statistics during their run yet fell short of SCC invitation:

Non-Winning Player	Lost to	No. of Correct Response (including FJ)	No. of Wrong Response (including FJ)	Coryat Score	Pre-FJ Score	Led Prior to FJ	Buzzer Attempts	Note
Jamie Hare	Alex DeFrank (1st win)	16	2	$14,000	$21,200	No	35	All-In DD2 & DD3 got it right
Brett Aresco	Alex DeFrank (2nd win)	12	3	$9,200	$9,800	Yes	33
David DeBacker	Alex DeFrank (3rd win)	20	3	$12,200	$15,600	No	40	vs. 39 Buzzer Attempts of Alex
Adam Silverman	Alex DeFrank (4th win)	16	1	$13,000	$13,000	No	49	Lost via runaway; Adam was the only one who got FJ right; Alex's Pre-FJ Score: $37,400 with 32 correct responses

With just 1 week away from Season 42 finale, so far Jamie Ding is current leader for the Most Valuable Player Award with his 31 win streak but there is still at least 12 weeks left before the eligibility cutoff. I felt the upcoming Jeopardy! Honors will be stacked and who will be the next person to be inducted at the Jeopardy! Hall of Fame?

Let's looked back on this Youtube Video called "How Jeopardy Botched the Search for a New Host" and summarize what happened to the show 5 years ago. In the end Ken Jennings is now the sole host of both syndicated & primetime Jeopardy!, although former guest host Joe Buck will host ESPN Jeopardy! in 2 weeks time.

Some of them praised CDR for not using any original song lip sync talent which they felt it was too overused already but do you think it was good thing or bad thing?

26 weeks into the eligibility period for 2026-27 postseason games, let's see which of these champions have the chance to compete at Champions Wildcard & Tournament of Champions.

Current Champion:  Caleb Groen (>!7 game!< champion)

Scenario	Champion	Status/Chances
5+ game champion	Jamie Ding (31 games & current MVP leader); Harrison Whitaker (14 games - carryover from the previous eligibility period); Adam Remsen (12 games); Tristan Williams (10 games); Chris D'Angelo (8 games); Peter McFerrin (6 games); Caleb Groen (current champion)	will compete at 2027 TOC
Special Case	Stella Trout	2026 CWC runner-up who received an invitation at 2027 TOC due to judging error in DD3 & will compete at 2027 TOC
Tournament Winner	Mina Kimes (CJ All Stars)	She is now in the official TOC tracker but waiting for her official confirmation if she will accept the invitation or not.
4 game champion	James Denison; Will Riley	will definitely compete at 2027 TOC
3 game champion	Greg Shahade; James Hirsh; Ron Lalonde	guaranteed spots at the 2026-27 postseason games; high chance of competing at 2027 TOC
3 game champion	none (as of now)	guaranteed spots at the 2026-27 postseason games; high chance of competing at 2027 CWC
2 game champion	Libby Jones (Note 1); Trey Hart; Richard Nguyen (Note 1)	high chance of competing at 2027 CWC
2 game champion	Quentin Powers	50/50 chance of competing at 2027 CWC
2 game champion	none (as of now)	low chance of competing at 2027 CWC
1 game champion	Stephanie Perkins (Note 2)	high chance of competing at 2027 CWC
1 game champion	Cory Aiello; Kate Brody; Madeline Kaplan; Shanon Crisenbery	50/50 chance of competing at 2027 CWC
1 game champion	Diana Miller; Noah Hamilton; Luke Henson; Dan Laine; Katelyn Mueller-McLean; Matt Wheeler	low chance of competing at 2027 CWC

The probability chances of 1-2 game champions at the upcoming Champions Wildcard (based on the trends from the 2026 CWC qualification & selection) will change as the regular games continue to air.

Note 1: So far all the Post-Trebek "giant killers" (Nancy D, Rhone, Danielle, Andy & Jonathan H) who won 1-2 games were eventually competed at Champions Wildcard since it was introduced in 2023. While Jonathan F, Eric A and Drew B competed at Tournament of Champions where both Eric & Drew finished as semifinalist. Andy became TOC alternate after he finished runner-up to Second Chance Competition winner Juveria at CWC.

Note 2: My opinion of Stephanie on "high chance" status despite her total cash winnings is below $20,000 (last qualified 1 game champion with lowest total cash winnings was Ian Morrison with $22,009) was because of her high volume of number of correct responses in her 2 game stint with 41 (compare to last edition's CWC winner Cameron Berry with 42 & runner-up Stella Trout with 40) and strong average Coryat with $17,100 (compare to CWC winner Cameron with $15,100). Since the selection of 2026 CWC players was changed to producers pick for 1-2 game champions and another factor is the long run of Jamie, Harrison, Tristan & Chris.

So, which of the potential SCC players might be the next Michelle Tsai, Ryan Sharpe, or Long Nguyen? How many spots will be given at the next SCC: 18 or 27? (I decided to add another layer of consideration: buzzer attempts).

Here is the longlist so far:

Non-Winning Player	Lost to	No. of Correct Response (including FJ)	No. of Wrong Response (including FJ)	Coryat Score	Pre-FJ Score	Led Prior to FJ	Buzzer Attempts	Note
Rachel Bernstein	Harrison Whitaker (5th win)	19	2	$13,000	$13,000	No	40	Lost via runaway
Wilder Seitz	Harrison Whitaker (14th win)	16	5 (2 wrong responses came from DD)	$11,800	$500	No	31	Special Case (1)
Eli Selzer	Libby Jones (2nd win)	26	2	$18,000	$23,000	No	44
Jenna LaFleur	Will Riley (2nd win)	18	3	$14,600	$14,400	No	40
Eddie Kass	Will Riley (3rd win)	21	3	$18,200	$13,800	Yes	40
Francis Boyle	Will Riley (4th win)	19	6	$12,600	$5,200	No	38	Lost via runaway
Christa Fidel	James Hirsh (1st win)	16	0	$15,600	$15,600	No	33	Competitive Game; Special Case (2)
Kevin Kodama	James Hirsh (2nd win)	22	3	$20,200	$5,000	No	32	Crucial DD3 miss; Lost via runaway
Marissa Klein	Noah Hamilton (1st win)	17	6	$11,600	$2,000	No	35	Lost all 3 TDD
Aahil Makhani	Quentin Powers (2nd win)	18	8	$8,400	$4,800	No	40
Sapana Vora	James Denison (3rd win)	17	2	$11,400	$13,200	No	35
Luke Minton	Jamie Ding (4th win)	22	3	$14,400	$14,400	No	47
David Ley	Jamie Ding (6th win)	18	6	$10,400	$15,200	No	32
Max Genecov	Jamie Ding (7th win)	23	3	$16,800	$9,800	No	44	Lost via runaway; Note (3)
Emmett Laurie	Jamie Ding (16th win)	10	3	$11,400	$17,200	No	29	Special Case Note (4)
Maggie Faucher	Jamie Ding (18th win)	17	6	$8,400	$7,400	No	40	Lost via runaway
Dominex Kovacs	Jamie Ding (19th win)	12	2	$11,800	$17,600	Yes	30	Special Case Note (5)
Taotao Zhang	Jamie Ding (26th win)	18	4	$13,200	$8,400	No	43	Lost via runaway
Lydia Sekscenski	Jamie Ding (28th win)	18	10 (2 wrong responses came from DD)	$5,800	$400	No	44
Max Ernst	Jamie Ding (28th win)	13	2	$10,800	$10,800	No	26	Note (6)
Patrick Nolan	Jamie Ding (30th win)	19	1	$17,600	$28,000	No	35
Chris Argento	Greg Shahade (2nd win)	18	2	$10,800	$10,800	No	35
Matt Davis	Madeline Kaplan (1st win)	22	2	$15,600	$15,600	No	40	Note (7)
Robert Yan	Tristan Williams (2nd win)	20	4	$12,200	$9,200	No	41	Note (8)
Helen Yoas	Tristan Williams (2nd win)	13	3	$12,600	$12,600	Yes	33	Special Case Note (8)
Anne Benjaminson	Tristan Williams (7th win)	18	7	$9,600	$9,600	No	37
Thomas Trovato	Tristan Williams (9th win)	19	3	$8,400	$1,200	No	34	Lost via runaway
Rose Sloan	Tristan Williams (10th win)	20	4	$14,200	$16,700	No	36
Liz Guinn	Chris D'Angelo (2nd win)	15	2	$11,000	$11,000	No	28	Special Case Note (9)
J.R. Scott	Chris D'Angelo (6th win)	19	6	$13,000	$13,600	No	34
Gil Hamel	Peter McFerrin (3rd win)	22	6	$13,000	$13,000	No	43	Note (10)
Gabriel Berkowitz	Peter McFerrin (3rd win)	15	3	$10,000	$8,800	No	35	Competitive Game; Note (10)
Webster Guan	Peter McFerrin (4th win)	16	5	$11,400	$13,600	Yes	33	Note (11)
Alejandro Sobalvarro	Peter McFerrin (6th win)	16	2	$11,400	$15,600	No	30	Note (12)
Benjy Malings	Adam Remsen (2nd win)	18	7	$11,800	$7,900	No	33
Tyler Stevenson	Adam Remsen (5th win)	20	6	$13,600	$12,000	No	43	Lost via runaway
Joey Tebben	Adam Remsen (8th win)	18	4	$8,200	$8,200	No	37	Lost via runaway
Wayne Kobylinski	Adam Remsen (9th win)	13	3	$9,400	$12,200	No	36	Special Case Note (13)
Derek Lombardi	Adam Remsen (10th win)	17	3	$11,400	$18,000	No	33
Kate Raven	Adam Remsen (10th win)	16	1 (single mistake was from FJ)	$13,600	$13,600	No	35	Competitive Game
Andy Briseño	Caleb Groen (1st win)	18	4	$12,200	$12,200	No	46
Amber Born	Caleb Groen (2nd win)	24	4	$13,800	$13,800	No	41
Michael Yates	Caleb Groen (4th win)	16	2	$10,200	$10,600	No	30	Crucial DD3 miss; Note (14)
Jessica Davis	Caleb Groen (4th win)	16	5	$10,600	$10,600	No	45	Competitive Game
Taylor A'Latorre	Caleb Groen (5th win)	19	2	$12,800	$12,800	No	40	Lost via runaway

My version of threshold is either:
Non-Runaway pre-FJ: 17 correct responses (including FJ) and/or Coryat score of at least $14,000
Runaway pre-FJ: 18 correct responses and/or Coryat score of at least $14,000

It is now getting more competitive than ever in this new eligibility period.

Note:

(1) Crucial DD miss that would had been the "giant killer" of Harrison instead of Libby.

(2) Christa is competed against 2 champions (2 game champion Trey Hart & 3 game champion James Hirsh).

(3) Crucial DD miss but the final outcome will not be changed had Max got DD right because both Max & Jamie got FJ right.

(4) Crucial DD correct response that gave him a chance to unseat Jamie & become a "giant killer" but the outcome did not change since Jamie got the FJ right & chances of being selected to compete at SCC might be low.

(5) Crucial DD correct response that gave him a chance to unseat Jamie & become a "giant killer" which he led prior to FJ but he lost via triple stumper.

(6) Competitive Game that gave him a chance to unseat Jamie & become a "giant killer" but chances of being selected to compete at SCC might be low.

(7) Matt D is competed against 2 champions (1 game champion Stephanie Perkins & 1 game champion Madeline Kaplan).

(8) Helen was led prior to FJ because of Tristan & Robert's wrong DD in DJ round that led both men tied for 2nd place. Helen lost because her FJ wrong while Robert lost because of Tristan's aggressive all in FJ wager while Robert chose to make a safe bet that would had won the game instead of Tristan since Helen got FJ wrong but both men got it right that led to Tristan's 2nd win.

(9) Liz would had won the game vs Chris in a double stumper had Chris made standard bet but Chris small bet made his 2nd win instead of Liz.

(10) Either Gil or Gabriel would had won against Peter if they would had bet properly in the FJ but both ended up losing to Peter in a triple stumper.

(11) Just like Dominex & Helen, Webster led prior to FJ but with his incorrect FJ response that costed him the game while Peter got FJ right.

(12) Crucial back to back DD correct responses that gave him a chance to unseat Peter but the outcome did not change since Peter got the FJ right while Alejandro wasn't & chances of being selected to compete at SCC is currently at 50-50 since there were more non-winning players performed better than him.

(13) Crucial DD correct responses that gave him a chance to unseat Adam but the outcome did not change since Adam got the FJ right & chances of being selected to compete at SCC might be low.

(14) Michael was leading until DD3 where he tried to extend the lead over Caleb & possibly would had won the game with great confidence since all 3 players got FJ right had he got DD3 response right but he got DD3 response wrong & lost the momentum.

(15) Kristal LeMaistre (from Caleb Groen's 7th win) would have been considered for the longlist, but with so many wrong responses (10 wrong responses, including Final Jeopardy, vs 15 correct responses and a $200 Coryat), she might be bypassed by the producers despite having 40 buzzer attempts.

Disclaimer: This is just a guide, the final decision is still in the hands of the producers that will be announced the official roster before the end of 2026.

I will post the Road to 2026 Champions Wildcard statistics during the summer rerun.

This year the selection of the Top 2 for the Lip Sync for the Crown went on a different direction as the judges chose the 2 queens with the strongest track record Van & Eboni competed for the Lip Sync for the Crown over Sami & PM unlike last year where the judges eliminated Minhi & Helena in favor of Virgo & Makayla.

Why do you think Van & Eboni did not suffer the same fate as Minhi & Helena last year? Were both Van & Eboni performed better than Minhi & Helena in the finale challenge?

Seven years ago, something unexpected happened when the production team announced the 2019 Tournament of Champions (TOC) lineup during Ryan Bilger's defeat game (the "final victim" of the "four-game curse" during the eligibility period) and future TOC winner Sam Kavanaugh's debut game, who eventually won five games before Jason Zuffranieri's debut. Many fans thought that the eligibility period would have been extended through the November 2019 airings, but I believe that the dominance of James Holzhauer's record-breaking streak caused the producers to cut off the eligibility period earlier than expected in order to prepare the qualified TOC contestants for the tournament.

However, the biggest surprise was the inclusion of Emma Boettcher as Larry Martin's replacement over seven non-qualified four-game champions. This became a hot topic because of the Producers' Pick, a concept that has since been implemented in Jeopardy! Masters and Champions Wildcard beginning in 2026. Since the producers selected Emma as Larry's replacement, former Clue Crew member and current stage manager Jimmy McGuire stated that the other qualified TOC contestants—Ryan Bilger, Sam Kavanaugh, and Jason Zuffranieri—who missed the eligibility cutoff would be carried over to the next TOC, which was ultimately held in May 2021.

Not everyone was happy with Emma's inclusion as the Producers' Pick. Some purists believed that four-game champion Dave Leffler should have taken Larry's spot and that the show should have adhered to the traditional qualification criteria based on the number of wins and total cash winnings. Others argued that the eligibility period should have been extended, as it was for the 2017 TOC, when the producers accommodated Austin Rogers by allowing him to fill the final spot, which resulted in Tim Kutz being bumped from TOC contention. As the TOC tracker stated in its disclaimer, "Presence on this list does NOT guarantee an invitation to compete in the Tournament of Champions. Other eligibility rules apply and final selection is up to the producers' sole discretion."

In your opinion, does the current Producers' Pick format provide a fair method of selecting potential TOC caliber players, or should the traditional criteria of number of wins and total cash winnings have been used to select players for Champions Wildcard and Jeopardy! Masters? Do you think that some of the seven non-qualified four-game champions could have been players of the same caliber as Juveria Zaheer or Cameron Berry, but were overlooked before the Davies era?