Jeopardy! TOC question

[Bryce L.]

I know that the Tournament of Champions always has 15 players at the outset. My question is, if any of the qualifying players are, for whatever reason, unable to participate in the Tournament, how do the producers go about determining an 'alternate' entrant to take their place?

[MarkBarrett]

Buddy Wright (A finalist) was the lowest qualifier with 4 wins and $88,804.  The alternate was Sara Heard with 4 wins and $85,601

It's the 16th player who serves as the alternate in case anyone eats a bad tuna sandwich.

For the 2010 TOC last in was Christine Valada with 4 wins and $68,703 while the alternate was Kevin Joyce with 3 wins but $111,299.

Wins trump money.