Purdue Libraries and School of Information Studies News

Adriana Harmeyer stars on “Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions”

February 18th, 2025

Adriana Harmeyer, an archivist for university history and clinical assistant professor at Purdue Libraries and School of Information Studies, competed and placed third overall in “Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions” from January 27–February 13, 2025. She earned the Jeopardy! “super-champion” title and won a grand total of $351,600 during her initial 15-game winning streak. 

What is “Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions?”

“Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions” is a yearly tournament featuring the top 15 players who won the most games from the previous season. The first six games are the quarterfinals, with three new contestants daily. The winners of these five games move on to the semifinals. The three semifinal winners move on to the finals, and the first finalist to win three games wins the overall championship. Adriana was seeded directly into the semifinals because she had one of the top winning streaks out of the super-champions, which began on February 4. 

Adriana’s experience

For five consecutive matches, she competed against Isaac Hirsch, a customer support team lead from Burbank, CA, and Neilesh Vinjamuri, a software engineer from Lionville, PA. Adriana won the first game despite being tied with Nielesh and winning after the Final Jeopardy question. However, Neilesh won the second and third games, Isaac won the fourth, and Neilesh won the last, giving him three wins and the overall champion title. The final match was a close race between all three contestants, with multiple lead changes. 

Adriana won $75,000 from her third-place win in the 2025 Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions. Reflecting on her experience, she said, “The Jeopardy Tournament of Champions was an incredible experience. I first went to Jeopardy months ago with no expectation that I would win one game, let alone win fifteen and have the opportunity to return to play again in the Tournament of Champions. It was a pleasure to meet and play alongside this year’s greats.”

Thank you, Adriana, for representing Purdue Libraries again with brilliance and grace. Congratulations on another remarkable run!

For detailed statistics on each match, visit The Jeopardy Fan website.