This fan favorite ‘Jeopardy!’ champ just competed in a nail-biting game. Here’s what happened

On Wednesday night, Harvey Silikovitz, a player who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2019, competed in the 2026 Champions Wildcard semifinals

Ken Jennings is the host of “Jeopardy!” On Wednesday night, fan favorite player Harvey Silikovitz competed in the 2026 Champions Wildcard semifinals. Jeopardy Productions, Inc.

Harvey Silikovitz fulfilled a longtime dream last year when he made it on “Jeopardy!”

After 10 attempts over 24 years, Silikovitz, who describes himself as an “attorney and worldwide karaoke singer,” walked away from the Alex Trebek Stage with a dominant win.

But fans had even more praise for his resilience.

His victory came just a few years after receiving a life-altering diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease.

“It’s been a longtime dream of mine to get here. But I continued chasing the dream, and now here I am,” he told host Ken Jennings during his “Jeopardy!” debut last March. “After living with Parkinson’s for five and a half years, it’s no longer about just wanting to do well for myself. I would like to give hope and inspiration to the people who are living with chronic illnesses.”

Silikovitz lost his second game. But now, the fan favorite player is back on the quiz show, competing in the 2026 Champions Wildcard tournament.

On Wednesday night, he played in the tournament’s semifinals.

Here’s a look at how he fared in the nail-biting game.

Harvey Silikovitz in ‘Jeopardy!’ Champions Wildcard semifinals

Silikovitz competed against fellow “Jeopardy!” champs Stella Trout and Ian Morrison during Wednesday’s semifinal game.

He had a strong start to the game, at one point adding $4,000 to his total with the following Daily Double clue: “United Airlines began using this Gershwin piece in its ads in the 1980s.”

The answer: “Rhapsody in Blue.”

At the end of the first round, he had $8,800 — $3,800 more than Trout, who was in second place.

Both Silikovitz and Trout made large wagers on Daily Doubles in the second round — and missed.

Silikovitz lost $5,000 on a clue that asked for the name of Prince Harry’s 2023 memoir (“Spare”). Trout, meanwhile, lost $6,000 when she couldn’t name the radioactive element that U.S. scientists discovered in 1944 when they bombarded plutonium with neutrons (“americium”).

With such big losses, the playing field was fairly even heading into Final Jeopardy: Trout had $14,000; Morrison had $10,600; and Silikovitz had $9,800.

It all came down to the Final Jeopardy clue, in the category “English place names”: “Once called Grontabricc, it’s named for a structure spanning a tributary of the Great Ouse River.”

Trout and Silikovitz came up with the correct response: Cambridge.

Silikovitz went all in and wagered his $9,800 to double his total to $19,600. Trout, meanwhile, wagered $5,601, bringing her total to $19,601 — just $1 more than Silikovitz.

With that total, Trout has earned her spot in the two-day finals airing Thursday and Friday.

The nail-biter of a game marked Silikovitz’s second match in the tournament. Last week, after trailing by a large amount during his quarterfinal game, he had an impressive streak of correct responses and went into the Final Jeopardy round with a slight $200 lead, as the Deseret News reported.

He ended up winning the game and securing his spot in the semifinals.

Now, his time in the tournament has come to an end.

How Harvey Silikovitz ended up on ‘Jeopardy!’

Silikovitz’s quest to land on “Jeopardy!” dates back to 2001, as the Deseret News previously reported.

He actually missed a call from a “Jeopardy!” producer in 2019. When he called back after roughly five weeks, Season 35 had wrapped. By the time Season 36 would begin filming, his window of eligibility to compete on “Jeopardy!” would be up. So he started all over again.

A few months after missing that “Jeopardy!” call, Silikovitz received a Parkinson’s disease diagnosis. But he was determined to keep trying out for the show.

“I worked hard to manage my Parkinson’s symptoms — even while relentlessly seeking to improve my knowledge base as well as my proficiency at the skills, such as timing on the buzzer, that are crucial to success on J!” he wrote in an Instagram post about his “Jeopardy!” debut.

He finally made it on “Jeopardy!” for Season 42, defeating a player on an eight-game winning streak in his debut.