In the Jeopardy Tournament of Champions, as in Highlander, there can be only one. Francois Barcomb, a New Paltz resident and physics teacher at Hendrick Hudson High School in Westchester County, made it all the way to the finals before falling to one of the all-time greats, James Holzhauer, who has won more than $2.7 million on the show. (The final episode aired last Friday, though the tournament was taped previously.)
Holzhauer won the $250,000 grand prize. Emma Boettcher came in second, earning $100,000, while Barcomb took third, netting $50,000 ($150,000 total including his Teachers Tournament winnings).
The Tournament of Champions finals was the second time Holzhauer and Boettcher faced off on the Jeopardy stage; their first meeting was in June 2019, when Boettcher beat Holzhauer and ended his 32-game winning streak.
“I’ve said all along that Emma is an all-time great player, and I’m proud it took that level of competitor to defeat me,” Holzhauer said. “Now the world sees that I wasn’t just making excuses. Francois certainly looked as dominant as either of us in his first two games, so I knew the finals would be a fight to the finish. But the whole point of the [Tournament of Champions] is to play the best of the best, and Emma and Francois certainly proved that they belonged in the final three.”
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