Jeopardy! champion Jennifer Quail furiously SLAMS the show for giving an 'unfair advantage' to certain players - after she was eliminated from the tournament

A former Jeopardy! champion expressed concern about the line-up for this week's Invitational Tournament edition of the beloved game show, claiming that certain veteran players were given an advantage over relative newcomers.

Michigan-based author Jennifer Quail first appeared on Jeopardy! in 2019, winning eight games and nearly $230,000 - making her the second most successful female contestant in the history of the show.

On live-tweeting the last of three semi-final rounds of the Jeopardy! Invitational Tournament (JIT) on Thursday evening, Quail noted that the winners from the first and second semi-final rounds - Amy Schneider and Andrew He - had both previously been on the 2023 Masters tournament, which aired last May. 

Quail herself had been eliminated in the first JIT semi-final round on Tuesday, losing to Schneider.

Former Jeopardy! champion Jennifer Quail expressed concern at the unfair advantage that veteran winners had over relative newcomers on the game show's Invitational Tournament

By the Jeopardy! Invitational Tournament (JIT) semi-finals, it was looking like there'd be a rematch between Amy Schneider (right), Andrew He (center), and Steve Buttrey

The second JIT finalist, winning in the second semi-final round on Wednesday, was He. 

In the last round of JIT semi-finals on Thursday night, one of the contenders was yet another Masters champion, Sam Buttrey, who was playing alongside Matt Jackson and Victoria Groce.

As she watched the game play out, Quail tweeted that she felt Schneider, He and Buttrey should have been paired together in one of the semi-final rounds this week.

After all, the trio - unlike their competition - had nearly a year's notice in the lead-up to the JIT, Jennifer argued, after having appeared in the Masters games last year.

Making the matter even more egregious, the exact same trio, of Buttrey, He and Schneider, had already faced off in the final round of the 2022 Tournament of Champions - with Schneider ultimately taking the grand prize. 

As Quail wrote in a Thursday-night tweet: 'See, yesterday and today is why I feel like the three people who knew a year in advance they'd be here should have had to play each other in the semis or quarters, because we're one game away from it making no difference, it would just be a Masters repeat.' 

As The Sun reported, other social media users also bristled at the somewhat unfair advantage Schneider, He and Buttrey had had heading into the JIT competition.

Thanks to their having appeared on Masters, Schneider, He and Buttrey reportedly had nine months to prep for JIT - while other contenders were given a mere three weeks' notice.

Quail expressed her ambivalence rooting for 'one of the nicest people you will ever meet,' Sam Buttrey, as that would have made for yet another rematch between Buttrey, He and Schneider

Quail's concern that the JIT finals would be a rematch between Schneider, He and Buttrey never came to fruition - as Pittsburgh's Victoria Groce beat Buttrey in the semi-finals

Groce won a game of Jeopardy! back in 2005, and has since risen to prominence in the international quizzing community

'It’s a shame they weren't given equal footing in terms of prep time. It would have been great to see everyone play in top form,' one person expressed on social media, per The Sun.

The way things were playing out in the game on Thursday night, it briefly looked like Buttrey might indeed take the third slot in the JIT finals.

Had that been the outcome, then the three 2024 JIT finalists would have also all been former 2023 Masters contestants - with the JIT finals also staging a three-way rematch of the 2022 Tournament of Champions finalists.

The potential for that line-up also made Jennifer feel mixed about rooting for Buttrey, whom she described as 'one of the nicest people.' 

'Hardest thing about watching this semifinal: Sam Buttrey is one of the nicest people you will ever meet, and after 2/3 of the Masters vets were in, it was really hard to root for him,' she tweeted.

Whatever the implications in the fairness of the match-ups in the semi-finals, Jennifer's fears proved unfounded, as Groce, of Pittsburgh, ended up beating Sam Buttrey for the third and last finalist spot in the 2024 JIT. 

Groce was a one-game champion on Jeopardy! all the way back in 2005, and has since risen up in the world of competitive quizzing.

She also joined quiz-show The Chase in 2022, slated as a 'chaser' (one of the challengers to each game's hopefuls) known as 'The Queen.'

'The Queen saves us from an all-ex-Masters all the time finals,' Quail tweeted of Groce's victory.

She added, 'Though sadly by having to take out the one everybody loves.'