Losing a game of Jeopardy! can be a devastating blow (or a welcome one) to anyone with the brains and guts to show up and compete on TV, but that disappointment can seep in even deeper for those who fail to capitalize on invites to the Second Chance and Wildcard Championship tournaments. It appeared as if Texas software engineer Stella Trout was among that bummed-out subset, given her loss to Cameron Berry for the two-game Wildcard Finals. Not so fast, though, as she IS coming back!
Granted, fans will have to suffer the long wait until after the 2026 TV schedule has wrapped, but executive producer Michael Davies revealed on the Inside Jeopardy! podcast that the talented player is one of the first two contestants locked in for the next Tournament of Champions. In his words:
So Stella, who was the alternate for this year’s Tournament of Champions, is going to be the first competitor in Tournament of Champions 2027. She was delighted to hear.
Michael Davies
First, I love knowing that she was an alt for this year’s Tourney, since she certainly proved herself worthy of taking part. (As did Cam Berry and fellow contestant Jonathan Hugendubler, to be sure.) However, I think even she would agree that it’s that much more meaningful to return in a dedicated slot as opposed to filling in for someone else.
Second, it sounds like Trout had to wait quite a while before learning this grand news herself. Producer Sarah Foss seemed to imply the former champ was given the news over the weekend, on the same night she was being honored with the Bounceback Award at this year’s fourth annual Jeopardy! Honors ceremony. As Foss put it:
It was a wonderful moment, like you said. She was so surprised. She had just received an honor; she had her trophy, her Bounceback Winner Jeopardy! honors, and we said, ‘Hey we know you’re not competing in the T.O.C. tomorrow, but guess what? You will be next year.'
Sarah Foss
What a wild night that must have been for Stella Trout, who took a huge risk in Game 2 of the Wildcard Championship Finals by risking her full $11,200 earnings on a Daily Double in the category ”Making Conservation.” For the clue that read, “Within the Department of the Interior, this is the country’s oldest conservation agency,” Trout responded with “What is the National Park Service?” and was declared incorrect, with all of her money gone.
Having taken the win in Game 1, Trout staged an impressive late-game comeback that technically had her within reach of a win, but an incorrect Final Jeopardy response knocked her back down. But the judges behind the scenes had a change of heart after looking more into it. According to Davies:
The team watching the feed from the Steven Dorfman Library, they took a closer look at the information in the clue, and found some interesting stuff. Our primary source was the Fish and Wildlife Service itself, as it should be. On their website: ‘The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is a bureau of the U.S. Department of the Interior, and the nation’s oldest conservation agency. Our origins date back to 1871.’ . . . So that was probably the primary piece of research that made us choose the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as the correct response.
Michael Davies
Sarah Foss continued the explaination, pointing out that the scripted answer that Ken Jennings was working from was technically correct, but that various agencies' name changes weren't taken into account. In her words:
But then as we got into researching this further, we learned that although it was founded in 1871, originally it was named the U.S. Commission of Fish and Fisheries, and then became the Bureau of Fisheries, and it wasn’t until 1940 that it merged to become the Fish and Wildlife Service. Stella’s response of the National Park Service was established in 1916, but the national parks weren’t created first, until 1872. So then if you trace it back to its roots, it doesn’t go back as far as the Fish and Wildlife Service. But as a single agency with its present name, definitely the National Park Service is older than the Fish and Wildlife Service.
Sarah Foss
So in reflection, this was less an issue of judges dropping the ball with Stella Trout's answer, and more about the clue itself leaving room for too many potential answers. Whatever the reasoning, though, I'm pleased as punch.
Trout was among my favorite 2025 champs who didn't qualify for the T.O.C. outright, and I was confident she would win out, even as other great players like Jonathan and karaoke king Harvey Silikovitz also brought their A-games. She sadly won't be making it into the Top 10 all-time Jeopardy! winners, barring some kind of a numerical miracle, but hopefully crushes out hard enough to make the Invitational tourney at some point. (I refuse to call it the JIT, and oh dammit, I guess I just did.)
Contestants are occasionally invited back due to judges reversing decisions in hindsight, but it’s certainly not common, and it’s only happened in instances where the wrong answer very clearly cost that person the win. Not so much when it’s the first clue for $400. So here's hoping Stella Trout can maximize his opportunity when Tournament of Champions 2027 rolls around.
In the meantime, Jeopardy! airs weeknights in syndication, and streams the next day via Hulu subscription.
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