Victoria Groce (born Jan 20, 1981) is an American quiz player and game show contestant. Groce is best known for ending the 19-day winning streak of Jeopardy! player David Madden in 2005.[1] She won the first Jeopardy! Invitational Tournament in April 2024.[2]
Early Life[3] edit
Groce is a native of Macon, GA.[4] and studied comparative literature at the University of Georgia. She intended to be a concert pianist and has observed that "the idea of being in performance, sitting in front of people is a very natural one for me."[5]
Groce competed in College Bowl during her time at the university, though was not a standout player.[6] After college, Groce had her daughter, Nora, and describes facing debilitating chronic migraine pain throughout the 2010s. She hoped to pursue graduate study in virology or immunology, but chronic illness created barriers to a career in lab science work.
Competitive Trivia edit
In 2017, Groce started her competitive quizzing career, competing on teams in the United States, Ukraine, and India.[7]
At the 2022 Ultimate Quizzing Championships (now the International Quizzing Championships) she was part of the winning team, "The New Janitors," in the club competition and won the pairs competition with Kevin Ashman of England.[8] At the 2023 International Quizzing Championships she won the national team competition with the United States team[9] and the pairs competition with Thomas Kolåsæter of Norway.[10] Groce also placed second individually in the 2023 World Quizzing Championships, just one point behind Ronny Swiggers of Belgium.[3]
In other quizzing endeavors, she has won multiple academic competitions and placed within the top ten at the annual World Quizzing Championships in multiple years.[11]
The Chase edit
Her success in competitive quizzing led to Groce being invited to serve as a "chaser" on the the third season of the U.S version of the game show The Chase[12] alongside Jeopardy! champions James Holzhauer (who was a contestant on the GSN version), Ken Jennings, and Brad Rutter.[13][14]
Prior to her debut in season three, Groce was promoted as "the smartest woman in the world based on her domination of online trivia tournaments."[15] On the show, her nickname is "the Queen."[16]
Jeopardy! Career edit
Groce originally appeared on Jeopardy! on September 19, 2005, where her occupation was listed as a musician.[17] Groce has said that "playing as choral accompaniment taught her the necessity of just going on," a skill that helped her recover quickly after quizzing mistakes.
After ending the 19-day streak of champion David Madden, Groce was defeated by retired advertising executive Ray Freson.
In April of 2024, Groce won against a field of 27 total contestants in the Jeopardy! Invitational Tournament which earned her a spot in the Jeopardy! Masters competition. Groce recalled preparing to reappear on the Alex Trebek stage: "I compete in a huge number of quiz competitions around the world, and the piece of Jeopardy! that is “know the things and remember them fast” I knew I was in good shape for. But so much of the rest of it—the buzzer, gameplay strategy, lateral thinking, and wordplay skills—I knew would be tricky to train for over just a few weeks."[18]
Between the Invitational Tournament and the Masters tournament, Groce described spending "... an hour-and-a-half doing crosswords and word puzzles like anagrams" in an effort to improve her skill at language and wordplay.[17]
During the Masters Tournament, Groce quickly established herself as a dominant force. By Game 4, Groce was tied with Yogesh Raut with at 10 points, while James Holzhauer followed behind at 6 match points.[19] After Game 5, Groce led her next closest competitor, Raut, 13 to his 10. [20]As of Game 10 of the 2024 competition, Groce leads the competition.[21]
Personal Life edit
Groce lives in Pittsburgh with her husband, daughter, and two cats.[22][23] Her husband is a software engineer at Carnegie Mellon, where she has also held different coordinator and research positions.[24] She also works as a freelance writer.[25]
References edit
- ^ Holmes, Martin (2024-04-05). "'Jeopardy!': 6 Things to Know About Victoria Groce". TV Insider. Retrieved 2024-05-17.
- ^ "Victoria Groce Wins the First-Ever Jeopardy! Invitational Tournament | J!Buzz | Jeopardy.com". www.jeopardy.com. Retrieved 2024-05-17.
- ^ a b "Lathikka Niriella Sri Lanka's top Quizzer for 2023 Ronny Swiggers wins the title Quiz Champion of the World!". Print Edition - The Sunday Times, Sri Lanka. Retrieved 2024-05-20.
- ^ Owen, Rob (2024-03-25). "TV Talk: Pittsburgher 'The Chase' star back on 'Jeopardy!' 20 years later; 'PTL' turns 20". TribLIVE.com. Retrieved 2024-05-20.
- ^ Owen, Rob (2024-03-25). "TV Talk: Pittsburgher 'The Chase' star back on 'Jeopardy!' 20 years later; 'PTL' turns 20". TribLIVE.com. Retrieved 2024-05-20.
- ^ Levey, Morgan. "What It Takes to Know Everything". Freakonomics. Retrieved 2024-05-19.
- ^ Owen, Rob (2024-03-25). "TV Talk: Pittsburgher 'The Chase' star back on 'Jeopardy!' 20 years later; 'PTL' turns 20". TribLIVE.com. Retrieved 2024-05-20.
- ^ "Ultimativno kvizaško prvenstvo - Berlin 2022". Hrvatski kviz savez (in Croatian). 2022-11-09. Retrieved 2024-05-19.
- ^ Short, Christopher (2023-11-05). "Team USA takes gold at International Quizzing Championships". Geeks Who Drink. Retrieved 2024-05-19.
- ^ "Thomas Kolåsæter vinner parkonkurransen i IQC". Norges Quizforbund (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2024-05-19.
- ^ "Results – World Quizzing Championships". Retrieved 2024-05-17.
- ^ "'Jeopardy!' GOATs on becoming 'the final boss' for their new game show 'The Chase'". EW.com. Retrieved 2024-05-20.
- ^ Ivie, Devon (2024-04-10). "Jeopardy! Winner Victoria Groce Endorses the Rock Band Method". Vulture. Retrieved 2024-05-19.
- ^ Cordero, Rosy (2022-03-15). "ABC Sets Premiere Date For 'The Chase' With New Chasers, 'Holey Moley' & 'Who Do You Believe?'". Deadline. Retrieved 2024-05-20.
- ^ "Breaking News - ABC Announces Summer 2023 Premiere Dates as the Network Leads the Season as No. 1 in Entertainment | TheFutonCritic.com". www.thefutoncritic.com. Retrieved 2024-05-20.
- ^ Narayanan, Varsha (May 18, 2022). "Who is Victoria Groce? Chaser "The Queen" is set to make her debut in The Chase Season 3 Episode". Sportskeeda. Retrieved 17 May 2024.
- ^ a b Owen, Rob (9 April 2024). ""TV Talk: Point Breeze's Victoria Groce Wins 'Jeopardy!' Invitational Tournament."". Pittsburgh Tribune Review (PA).
- ^ "Victoria Groce Reflects on Winning the Jeopardy! Invitational Tournament: 'The Buzzer Was Fantastic to Me' | J!Buzz | Jeopardy.com". www.jeopardy.com. Retrieved 2024-05-19.
- ^ Florence, Russell (14 May 2024). "'Jeopardy! Masters' Episode 5: Amy Schneider Holding Steady after Topsy-Turvy Game". Springfield News-Sun (OH).
- ^ "'Jeopardy! Masters' Episode 5: Amy Schneider holding steady after topsy-turvy game". dayton-daily-news. Retrieved 2024-05-20.
- ^ Holmes, Martin (2024-05-14). "'Jeopardy! Masters': James Holzhauer Crushed as Mattea Roach & Victoria Groce Win Big". TV Insider. Retrieved 2024-05-19.
- ^ Insider, Martin Holmes, TV (2024-04-05). "'Jeopardy!': 6 Things to Know About Victoria Groce". News-Graphic.com. Retrieved 2024-05-19.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ "Victoria Groce". ABC.com. Retrieved 2024-05-19.
- ^ Owen, Rob (2024-03-25). "TV Talk: Pittsburgher 'The Chase' star back on 'Jeopardy!' 20 years later; 'PTL' turns 20". TribLIVE.com. Retrieved 2024-05-20.
- ^ Ashley Vega (2023-07-04). "Everything we know about quiz expert Victoria Groce". The US Sun. Retrieved 2024-05-19.
External links edit
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