[Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for the Tuesday, January 20, episode of Jeopardy!]
The second quarterfinals game of the 2026 Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions was a runaway, but the winner had the wrong final response. Did that cost them a lot in their total? Find out who advanced to the semi-finals after Tom Devlin’s victory on Monday.
Ph.D. candidate Allegra Kuney, from New Brunswick, New Jersey, played against law student and away-from-home son, Brendan Liaw, from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and judicial law clerk Andrew Hayes, from Tupelo, Mississippi, on January 20.
The first three clues of the round were Triple Stumpers. Kuney took the lead quickly despite many more Triple Stumpers throughout that had Liaw and Hayes in the negatives. She had $3,000 by the first 15 clues.
During the interviews, Liaw revealed that he was no longer a “stay-at-home son,” which he marketed himself as during his initial run. He’s now moved out and found a job. Three days after accepting his job, he got into law school. Hayes and his wife welcomed a child since his last run. After Kuney’s two games, she stepped on a bee while walking on the beach with her mom.
When the game picked back up, Liaw found the Daily Double on clue 16. He had $200 and wagered the allotted $1,000. In “National Parks of the World,” the clue was “The most famous feature of Venezuela’s Canaima National Park, it has an initial plunge of 2,648 feet.” “What’s Angel Falls?” he answered correctly, giving him $1,200 and second place.
He ended the round in first place with $3,600. Kuney had $3,000. Hayes was in the hole with -$1,000.
In Double Jeopardy, Hayes finally got into positive territory when he found the DD on clue five. He had $200 and wagered the allotted $2,000. In “Back Words,” the clue read, “Turn over a painting & you might find labels, notes or even a signature on this side, a 5-letter word from Latin for ‘to turn.’” Just before time ran out, Hayes answered, “What is verso?” He put $2,200 in his bank after answering correctly.
Kuney found the last DD on clue eight. She was in second place with $5,000 and wagered $4,000. In “What a Time to Be Alive,” the clue was “Mansa Musa I recruited scholars & architects to go to Timbuktu during the height of this 4-letter West African empire.” “What is Mali?” she answered correctly. This gave her $9,000 and the lead.
She took a huge lead as she dominated the rest of the round. Kuney went into Final Jeopardy with $18,200. Liaw had $8,000. Hayes was in third place with $6,200.
The category for Final Jeopardy was “Scientific Words.” The clue read, “A Nobel laureate coined this word to avoid the repetition of the rather cumbersome phrase ‘mould broth filtrate.’” Two of the contestants had the correct response.
Hayes answered, “What is penicillin?” which was correct. He wagered $1,801, ending him with $8,001. Liaw also had the right answer. He wagered $1,337, making his final total $9,337.
Kuney had the wrong response of “What is agar?” Depending on her wager, she could lose the game. She only wagered $10, giving her a final total of $18,190.
Kuney advanced to the semi-finals and will play in the first game against Devlin and Scott Riccardi. Three new contestants will compete in the quarterfinals on Wednesday.
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This story originally appeared on TV Insider
