[quote name=\'inturnaround\' post=\'118194\' date=\'May 11 2006, 09:36 AM\']
Can a contestant decline their berth in the ToC? I suspect they can, though I'm not saying that's what happened here.
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One contestant did decline their berth on Super Jeopardy! in Summer 1990, as per Alex at the top of one episode, becasue they were running for political office at the time. There are at least two players who would have qualified for the UTofC, i.e. Amanda Goad and Larry McKnight, who would have been invited based on being a five-time winner with $48K+ or having won a tournament, that declined for whatever reason. Bill Dickenson and one other player who escapes me at the moment made the tournament because of them declining.