Whitby psychiatrist frontrunner in Jeopardy Tournament of Champions wildcard finals
Published February 2, 2024 at 9:40 am
Whitby Jeopardy Queen Juveria Zaheer takes a small lead into tonight’s final leg of the two game total point Champions Wildcard Final, with $100,000 and an opportunity to play in the next Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions up for grabs for the winner.
Zaheera, a psychiatrist with the University of Toronto and the Canadian Association of Mental Health, earned 20,000 in the first night and holds a $5,200 lead over Andy Tirrell, a political science and international relations professor from San Diego. Also in the wildcard final is Kansas City data analyst Michael Menkhus.
It’s been a long process for Zaheera, who has been captivating Jeopardy fans since she qualified for the wildcard finals with a ‘Second Chance’ win on Christmas Day. She earned a two-day final cumulative total of $70,800 – the highest score of all four Second Chance champs – in her two-day final against Jason Carpenter and Iris Masucci.
“I can’t believe this is happening,” Juveria said at the time. “It feels like it’s a dream or it’s happening to someone else.”
In Juveria’s first game of those finals, she set three single-game highs for the season: she earned a Daily Double total of $20,000, had 32 correct responses, and she finished with a score of over $50,000.
“I didn’t want to be scared and I didn’t want to have regrets,” Juveria said. “If you wager a lot and you get it wrong, you did your best and you tried your hardest and that’s okay. So, I just didn’t want to leave anything like that on the table I think this time.”
Since then the CAMH Medical Head and U of T Associate Professor and suicide prevention researcher has done nothing but win, charming her new fans, old friends and colleagues and Durham residents on her path to Jeopardy success.
Tonight will be for all the marbles and Zaheera appears ready.
“Tune in to see Michael, Andy and me finish off this two game total point Champions Wildcard Final affair to see who will be going to the Tournament of Champions!”
The Jeopardy Champions Wildcard Final airs at 8 p.m.
Juveria Zaheera with Jeopardy Host (and Big Bang star) Mayim Bialik