‘Jeopardy! Invitational Tournament’ 2026 Semifinal Matchups Revealed

The Jeopardy! Invitational Tournament (JIT) is moving along quickly, and after Thursday night’s quarterfinal game, the players for the semifinals have been set, including three wildcards. Find out who will be competing against whom.

The JIT began on Thursday, February 5, after Paolo Pasco won the Tournament of Champions on February 4. The competition consists of six quarterfinal games, three semifinals game, and the finals, where the contestant who wins two games first becomes the champion.

Ken Jennings hosts the tournament, as he does all of the other ones, but this competition is solely based on invitations by the game show‘s executive producers, Sarah Whitcomb-Foss and Michael Davies. Whitcomb-Foss and Davies announced the contestants on the Inside Jeopardy! podcast on January 19.

Some of the contestants include three participants from the previous Masters series, the two runners-up from the TOC, and other champions, but even they can decline if they simply can’t participate. That year’s TOC winner and JIT winner advance to Jeopardy! Masters, along with three contestants who were seeded in the last Masters. The winner of the JIT takes home $150,000.

Read on to find out who is competing against whom in the semifinals.

Who was ch0sen for the 2026 tournament?

18 players were invited to the 2026 JIT, compared to the normal 27.

• Jeopardy! Masters contestants
  • Adriana Harmeyer
  • Isaac Hirsch
  • Roger Craig
  • Matt Amodio
  • Andrew He (2024 JIT runner-up)
• Season 41 post-season players
  • Mehal Shah (Season 41 Champions Wildcard winner)
  • Drew Goins (Second Chance Winner)
  • Will Yancey (Champions Wildcard runner-up)
  • Drew Basile (defeated Adriana Harmeyer)
  • Alison Betts (5-game champion)
• Post-Season Players
  • Eric Ahasic (6-game champion, Season 38)
  • Long Nguyen (Season 40 Second Chance player)
  • Liz Feltner (2022 JNCC finalist)
  • Karen Farrell (Season 38, 8-game champion, ToC runner-up)
  • Veronica Vichit-Vadakan (Season 36, 4-game champion, 2021 Toc runner-up)
  • Josh Hill (Season 34, 7-game champion, quarterfinalist in T0C)
  • Jennifer Giles (Teachers Tournament Winner, All-Star game, third-place team)
  • Tom Cubbage (1989 College Champion Winner, TOC Winner, Super Jeopardy! 1990, Ultimate TOC, and Battle of the Decades)

Semifinal Matchups

Amodio, Craig, Goins, He, Betts, and Nugyen all won their quarterfinal games, so they advanced to the semifinals automatically. The tournament also accepts three wildcard contestants based on the next highest earnings. Those three contestants include Farell ($16,400), Giles ($8,400), and Basile ($7,200).

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Here is who is competing against whom, according to the Jeopardy! website.

• Friday, February 13 — Roger Craig, Jen Giles, and Drew Basile
• Monday, February 16 — Matt Amodio, Andrew He, and Alison Betts
• Tuesday, February 17 — Long Nguyen, Karen Farrell, and Drew Goins

Who turned down an invite?

Contestants can turn down an invitation to the JIT, hence the name Invitational Tournament. Here’s who turned down an invitation for this year’s tournament, but can be invited back for future tournaments.

• Neilesh Vinjamuri
• Brad Rutter
• Mattea Roach (Whitcomb-Foss spoke to Roach, and they said they are “starting to get hungry again, so maybe they will appear in a future JIT)
• Julia Collins (hopes to make a comeback, but declined because her husband, Roger, is competing and she has to look after their two young children)
• Cris Pannullo (traveling, so unable to join)

Where can you watch the JIT?

Just like the syndicated version of Jeopardy!, the JIT will air on the same channel and time. The episodes can also be streamed the next day on Hulu and Peacock.

Jeopardy!, weekdays, check local listings

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