2011 Salute of Champions: FINAL FIVE!

#5: The Gypsies ("Expedition: Impossible")

This group of friends that consisted of John Post, Taylor Filasky & Eric Bach had traveled to 40+ countries together. When the competition started, they were just unstoppable, only losing the fifth leg to the Fab 3 because of a late navigational error. Each teammate won $50K & a Ford Explorer as a result; who knows what would've happened had they instead competed on "The Amazing Race".

#4: Jason Keller ("Jeopardy!")

Jason had been waiting 16 years to appear on the program & his chance finally arrived on Dec. 16th; he became the new champ w/ $28,200. On Monday the 19th, he ran into a FJ! Triple Stumper but hung on for the win by a Benjamin w/ $16,600. Tuesday the 20th brought his first Lock Game win for $25K. On the 21st, he was lucky enough to be the only correct questioner in FJ! regarding a Seattle Seahawks clue to gain yet another 25 grand. He became a five-time winner on the 22nd w/ his biggest single win to date, $32,200. Winning the sixth game two nights before Christmas '11 was no sweat for him, picking up $20K more. On Boxing Day, he posted his best total ever of $36,900 after wisely not going w/ his first instinct on his FJ! response that night. Jason didn't wager anything in FJ! on his eighth match (even though he was the only one right), but that was because he was in Lock Game Territory & he kept his entire $20K, causing him to top the $200K mark. He won his next-to-last appearance after trailing Patrick Rostock $21,600-$18,400 heading into the final; both men responded incorrectly, but Jason gave back just $6,600 to Patrick's $16,499. The third & final FJ! wrong response cost Jason his 10th victory, but he still left as the show's fourth nine-time champ since the winnings limit was removed.

#3: Melanie Amaro ("The X Factor")

She first appeared on the U.S. version on Sept. 22nd while she was in the Miami, FL auditions. On Oct. 7th, we announced that she was a part of the Top 32 & was a member of Simon Cowell's girl group. She was originally cut by Simon on Oct. 19th, but Simon would have a change of heart & made her the last member of the Top 17. Melanie sang last on the first live performance show on Oct. 25th & qualified for the Top 12. She was never in danger of being eliminated for good the rest of the way out & outpointed Josh Krajcik to win the biggest guaranteed prize package offered in TV history- a recording contract w/ a pepsi Super Bowl commercial!

#2: Roger Craig ("Jeopardy!")

For the second year in a row, he's the GSK SoC runner-up. Best known for breaking Ken Jennings' one-day record of $75K w/ $77K on the second show of Season 27, he first took on Brian Meacham & Kara Spak during the second ToC game on Nov. 3rd. Even after a FJ! miss, he cruised to the semi-final because of accumulating 39,800 fake dollars after the first two rounds. On Veterans Day, something that foreshadowed his final ToC result occurred- he made two successful True DDs & then nailed the last one for another $10K to put his semi-final match against Mark Runsvold & Joon Pahk. When the ToC final began the following Monday (the 14th), he found both DDs in DJ! back-to-back & was again successful in making them TDDs, winning him $50K for that night alone. He went on to win the $250K w/ a final tally of $51,200, which brought his lifetime winnings to $481,200.

2011 GRAND CHAMPION: Watson ("Jeopardy!")

"The IBM Challenge" from the T.J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, NY began on Valentines' Day & the two-game affair was spread out over the course of three nights. For each clue, the likelihood of Watson's potential response being right was revealed regardless of whether or not it buzzed in first. It took the IBM supercomputer just three clues to find the first DD, although it didn't dominate after the J! Round on VD, when it was tied for the lead w/ Brad Rutter at $5K each to Ken Jennings' $2K. Watson swept all of the DDs in the remainder of the event's first game & even though it didn't come up w/ the right FJ! response, it was definitely in the lead w/ $35,734, followed by Brad w/ $10,400 & Ken w/ $4,800. Watson discovered both DDs in the other DJ! Round of the competition (Ken found the first one in that night's J! Round & made a successful TDD) & went onto setting a new two-day tournament match record w/ $77,147 to win $1M that was split for two charities! It helped the show post its highest ratings since Feb. '07 & made a name for itself in not only pop culture, but in the medical world as well courtesy of Wellpoint.

W/ that, Roger's actually our Human Player of the Year & Melanie's the Reality GS Player of the Year!