This is an accepted version of this page
Jeopardy! is an American television game show. Its format is a quiz competition in which contestants are presented with general-knowledge clues in the form of answers and must phrase their responses as questions. Many contestants in the show's history have received significant media attention because of their success onJeopardy!, particularlyBrad Rutter, who has won the second highest total prize money on the show (after Ken Jennings) and was undefeated by a human until 2011;James Holzhauer, who holds several of the show's highest overall daily scores; andKen Jennings,Amy Schneider, andMatt Amodio, who have the top three longest winning streaks. Other contestants have been better known for their accomplishments elsewhere, such asJohn McCain, a one-day champion in 1965 who later became aU.S. senator and the2008 Republican presidential nominee.
Terry Thompson, a housewife and alumna ofSwarthmore College, was the first Tournament of Champions winner.[1] She won $8,590 over the course of her run onJeopardy!, including $5,080 during her main run and $3,510 (plus a vacation to theVirgin Islands) in the tournament. Thompson noted that her husband was initially wary of her participating in a televised quiz show, as it had been only six years since thequiz show scandals had tarnished the medium's reputation.[2]
Burns Cameron,[3] billed as "a businessman fromLarchmont, New York" during his original run and "a realtor fromStandish, Maine" on his 1990 appearance, won $11,110 in his appearances onJeopardy!, including a then-record five-game total of $7,070 in December 1965. Cameron won the third annualTournament of Champions in 1966, in which he won $4,040. Cameron also appeared on the 2,000th episode in 1972, an all-time-best game in which he faced Elliot Shteir and Jane Gschwend, two 1969 contestants who had surpassed his total in their five-day runs. He finished second and won $700 for charity. Cameron is cited as one of the best players of theArt Fleming era of the show.[4] In 1990, whenJeopardy! creatorMerv Griffin producedSuper Jeopardy!, a separate weekly prime time network version based on theTrebek version ofJeopardy! to air Saturday nights in the summer onABC, he invited Cameron to compete as the only player from the Fleming era. Cameron competed in the fifth quarterfinal game, where he finished second (by one point) and won $5,000.[5]
U.S. senator and 2008 presidential candidateJohn McCain was a one-day champion in 1965 before serving in theVietnam War, spending five and a half years as aPOW, and later becoming a senator fromArizona.[6]
Hutton "Red" Gibson won the 1968 Tournament of Champions.[1] Gibson later became a prominentsedevacantist and conspiracy theorist. One of his sons is actor, director and producerMel Gibson.
Jane Gschwend[7] a high school dropout and homemaker fromLancaster, Pennsylvania, held the record for the most money won in regularJeopardy! play for the original series with her $8,250 total over five days.[8] She was upset in the semifinal round of the 1969 Tournament of Champions[1] but returned as part of the all-time best charity game on the 2000th episode in 1972, winning that game. HostArt Fleming cited Gschwend as an example of how a common person without traditional credentials could succeed at the game.[8]
Jay Wolpert won the 1969 Tournament of Champions.[1] He later became known as a game show producer, screenwriter, and occasional actor.
Jerry Frankel, a musician and composer fromBuffalo, New York, was a five-time undefeated champion during Trebek's first season, winning $32,650. He became that version's first Tournament of Champions winner, earning the $100,000 grand prize by defeating Bruce Fauman and Steve Rogitz in the two-game final.[9]
Chuck Forrest[10] held the record for the largest non-tournament cash winnings total from 1985 to 1989, and the largest all-time winnings from 1986 to 1990. The show's producers regarded him as one of the best and most memorable contestants of the 1980s.[4] Forrest is widely regarded by other eliteJeopardy! players as one of the most formidable contestants ever.[11][12] He won five consecutive games from September 30 to October 4, 1985, winning a then-record $72,800 and qualifying for the 1986 Tournament of Champions, which he won, earning another $100,000.[13] Forrest later played in theSuper Jeopardy! tournament, theMillion Dollar Masters tournament, theUltimate Tournament of Champions, and theBattle of the Decades tournament. He implemented a strategy known as the "Forrest Bounce" to confuse opponents: the strategy involved picking each clue from a different category instead of taking the clues in order. WithMark Lowenthal, Forrest co-wrote the 1992 bookSecrets of the Jeopardy! Champions.[14]
Barbara Lowe, a writer and researcher fromAnaheim, California, was a five-time undefeated champion during Trebek's second season, winning $35,192.[15][16] However, she was disqualified from the show's second Tournament of Champions after it was revealed that she was ineligible and that she appeared on many different game shows (most notablyWheel of Fortune in 1976,It's Anybody's Guess in 1977,Bullseye in 1981, and laterWho Wants to Be a Millionaire in 2003) and lied about her name.[17][18][19][20][21] Her winnings were withheld, and she suedMerv Griffin Enterprises andKing World Productions for it, ultimately receiving her winnings, but was banned from appearing on any future tournaments on the show.[22] It was reported that during her games, she argued withAlex Trebek over incorrect answers.[23] In May 2023, Lowe would set the record straight on her appearance on the show, stating that during her second tape day, she developed a case ofgastroenteritis which required the show to stop tape until she recovered. She also stated that Trebek told her she was costing the show time and money, and revealed that her stomach ailment had cost the program thousands of dollars that the show was trying to recoup by withholding her winnings.[24] Her episodes were then withdrawn from release and were never re-run following their original airings.[24] On December 15, 2022, Lowe's episodes were found by theNational Archives of Game Show History from a longtimeJeopardy! fan's collection of 108 VHS cassettes of 896 episodes from the show's first seven seasons, and her games were subsequently added to the J! Archive.[24][25][26]
Richard Cordray was a five-timeJeopardy! champion in 1987, who appeared in the 1987 Tournament of Champions while still serving as alaw clerk. Cordray parlayed his success onJeopardy! into political office, serving as anOhio state legislator, theAttorney General of Ohio, and later the first director of theConsumer Financial Protection Bureau. He was a participant in the Battle of the Decades Tournament, but lost in his first match and declined the prize money due to his office.
Mark M. Lowenthal was an undefeated five-time champion in 1988 and won the 1988Tournament of Champions.[27] He also appeared onSuper Jeopardy!,[28] the Ultimate Tournament of Champions, winning $5,000 after losing his first game, and theJeopardy! Battle of the Decades, beatingFrank Spangenberg in his initial game. Lowenthal is the co-author (with Season 2 record-setting five-time champion and Tournament of Champions winnerChuck Forrest) of the 1992 bookSecrets of the Jeopardy! Champions, and has also written a college textbook on intelligence and national security.[14]
Eric Newhouse first appeared onJeopardy! when he won the 1989 Teen Tournament. He was both a semifinalist in the 1989 Tournament of Champions andSuper Jeopardy! After winning the 1998 Teen Reunion Tournament, Newhouse was invited to the Million Dollar Masters, where he placed second overall toBrad Rutter.[29] Newhouse was one of nine players to advance directly to the second round of the Ultimate Tournament of Champions but lost his initial game.
Tom Cubbage is the only contestant inJeopardy! history to win both the show'sCollege Championship and the Tournament of Champions. Cubbage became the first ever winner of the College Championship in May 1989, winning $26,600. In November of that year, he was the $100,000 grand prize winner of the 1989 Tournament of Champions. He also appeared onSuper Jeopardy! in 1990 and earned $5,000 for appearing as a quarterfinalist.[30] Fifteen years later in 2005, Cubbage competed in the Ultimate Tournament of Champions. In the first round, he lost his game, finishing second toBob Harris.[31] In 2014, Cubbage returned toJeopardy! to compete in the show's Battle of the Decades. In his first game of the tournament, he defeated fellowJeopardy! alumni Verini andJerome Vered.[32] Cubbage lost his second game toKen Jennings, but he finished the game with $19,500, allowing him to secure a wild-card spot in the next round.[33] In the semifinals, Cubbage lost again, finishing third behind Leszek Pawlowicz and eventual tournament winnerBrad Rutter.[34]
Bob Blake, an actuary fromVancouver, British Columbia, appeared onJeopardy! in September 1989, won all five games, and broke Forrest's five-day record with $82,501. Because Blake's winnings exceeded the then-limit of $75,000, $7,501 of his winnings were donated to his selected charity,Oxfam.[35] He also competed inSuper Jeopardy!,[36] in which he was a semifinalist. He won the 1990 Tournament of Champions, earning $100,000.[37] He also competed in the Ultimate Tournament of Champions in 2005. He was initially invited to compete in the Battle of the Decades tournament but declined because of conflicts with international travel.
Ed Toutant appeared onJeopardy! in October 1989, winning one episode and $11,401. He later assistedIBM in programmingWatson to prepare for theJeopardy! IBM Challenge. Toutant was better known for his appearance on another game show,Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, in which he won the show's grand prize, a progressive jackpot of $1,860,000.[38]
LieutenantFrank Spangenberg garnered fame in 1990 when he set the five-day cumulative winnings record, becoming the first person to win more than $100,000 in five days on the show.[39] He has been called one of the "veritable legends" of the show.[40] He was also the first to exceed $30,000 (winning $30,600) in a single day.
At the time a member of theNew York City Transit Police Department (now the Transit Bureau of theNew York City Police Department), Spangenberg won $102,597 in five days. Until 2003, winners were retired after five consecutive victories and due to a winnings cap in place at the time, Spangenberg kept $75,000 of his winnings and donated the remaining $27,597 to the Gift of Love Hospice, a facility operated by theMissionaries of Charity.
Until 2019, the $102,597 record stood as the all-time net five-day record because of 2001 changes to clue values and the 2003 abolition of the five-day limit. The only contestant to date to beat Spangenberg's record isJames Holzhauer, who won $298,687 in his first five games.[41]
Spangenberg also wonJeopardy!'s10th Anniversary Tournament in 1993, winning $41,800,[42] and previously appeared in the 1990 Tournament of Champions andSuper Jeopardy! earlier that year. He later competed in the 2002Million Dollar Masters tournament, the 2005 Ultimate Tournament of Champions and the 2014Battle of the Decades tournament.[citation needed]
Jerome Vered appeared onJeopardy! in 1992 and won $96,801 as a five-day champion, retiring undefeated. His total winnings at the time were second only to Spangenberg's $102,597. During that run, he shattered the one-day record for dollar winnings, earning $34,000 in one episode.[43] After his run, Vered returned for the 1992 Tournament of Champions, finishing third.[44] In the 2005 Jeopardy! Ultimate Tournament of Champions, Vered won five games to advance to a three-game final match against fellowJeopardy! legendsKen Jennings andBrad Rutter. He finished in third place, earning $250,000.[45] He competed in the 2014 Battle of the Decades, losing to Tom Cubbage.
Ryan "Fritz" Holznagel is the editor-in-chief of Who2 Biographies and the winner of the 1995 Tournament of Champions.[46] He also represented the U.S. at the show's first ever Olympic tournament in 1996. Holznagel later participated in the Ultimate Tournament of Champions in 2005, and in the Battle of the Decades in 2014.[47] While not competing, he realized thatJeopardy! success largely comes down to how well a player is able to use the signaling device to ring in. Using this knowledge, he created a reaction time website and employed various methods, such as coffee and light exercise, to take his reaction time from an average 228 milliseconds to a superhuman 126 milliseconds. He published all his findings in a manifesto named Secrets of the Buzzer in 2015.[48][49]
Michael George Dupée originally appeared onJeopardy! in 1996, and won the Tournament of Champions that year.[50] In 2005, Dupée participated in the Ultimate Tournament of Champions. He won his first match,[51] but lost to Robert Slaven in the second.[52] Nine years later, in 2014, Dupée competed in the Jeopardy! Battle of the Decades tournament, where he was defeated byBrad Rutter.[53]
Dupée's total winnings onJeopardy! are $203,901,[citation needed] including $66,401 won during his original five-day run;[54] $100,000 for winning the 1996 Tournament of Champions; $32,500 from the Ultimate Tournament of Champions; and $5,000 from the show's Battle of the Decades. Jennings praised Dupée's book,How to Get on Jeopardy! and Win!, claiming it was the best preparation for competing onJeopardy![55] In the book, which he wrote after his success onJeopardy!, Dupée wrote about his experience on the show and provided practice clues for aspiring contestants.[56]
Karl Coryat was a two-day champion on the show in 1996.[57] His name was given to theCoryat score, ananalytics measurement of a contestant's ability to answer questions alone, without factoring in wagers on Daily Doubles or Final Jeopardy!.[58]
American novelistArthur Phillips appeared onJeopardy! in 1997. According to his biography, Phillips was a 5-time undefeated champion,[59] winning $63,003 in the process.[60] He competed in the 1998 Tournament of Champions, but lost his quarterfinal match toTeen Tournament winner Sahir Islam.[61] In 2005, Phillips competed in the Jeopardy! Ultimate Tournament of Champions. He won his first match, winning $8,800 (which was bumped to $15,000),[62] and lost his second, finishing behind Eric Terzuolo and formerCollege Championship winner Pam Mueller.[63]
Bob Harris is a multi-time contestant onJeopardy![64][65] Harris first appeared as a contestant in 1997 and won $58,000 as an undefeated five-time champion. The next year, he finished third in the Tournament of Champions, behind Kim Worth and Dan Melia. In the first round of theJeopardy! Million Dollar Masters tournament in 2002, Harris scored an upset victory over Rachael Schwartz andFrank Spangenberg.[66] He lost in the semifinals to Eric Newhouse.[67] In 2005, Harris competed again on the show, this time in theJeopardy! Ultimate Tournament of Champions. He won $24,400 and defeated fellowJeopardy! alumni Frank Epstein and Tom Cubbage in Round 1,[31] but lost in Round 2 to Bruce Borchardt and Michael Daunt.[68] In 2014, Harris competed in the Battle of the Decades. In his match, Harris finished third, behind Shane Whitlock and Robin Carroll.[69]
Harris wrote a book about his experiences onJeopardy!,Prisoner of Trebekistan.[70] He has competed on other game shows. In 2000, Harris participated in a million-dollar winning team onGreed, winning $200,000 for himself.[71] He was also a successful $250,000 phone-a-friend for a contestant onWho Wants to Be a Millionaire?.[72]
Eddie Timanus was the first blind contestant to compete on the show, appearing in October 1999.[73] He won five consecutive games—the limit at that time—and earned $69,700 and two cars. Timanus subsequently appeared in the Million Dollar Masters, the Ultimate Tournament of Champions, and the Battle of the Decades.
Brad Rutter is the biggest all-time money winner onJeopardy! and briefly held the record for biggest cumulative game show winnings for any U.S. game show contestant. Rutter retained the record forJeopardy! winnings with either $4,255,102 (or $4,270,102, including a pair ofChevrolet Camaros). He became a five-day undefeated champion onJeopardy! in 2000, with a total of $55,102. Rutter subsequently won fiveJeopardy! tournament titles: the 2001 Tournament of Champions,[74] the 2002 Million Dollar Masters Tournament, the 2005 Ultimate Tournament of Champions,[75] the 2014 Battle of the Decades,[76] and the 2019 All-Star Games.[77]
In 2020, Rutter's undefeated streak ended when he finished third in theJeopardy! The Greatest of All Time tournament, losing to Jennings and Holzhauer by a final score of 3–1–0.
Pam Mueller is a former winner of the College Championship.[78][79] She participated in the Ultimate Tournament of Champions,[80] advancing all the way to the Sweet Six round before losing her match, finishing behindFrank Spangenberg andJerome Vered. In 2014, Mueller competed in the show'sBattle of the Decades.[81] The story about her first match in this tournament, which saw her compete against fellowJeopardy! champions Dan Melia and Ryan (Fritz) Holznagel, was featured on Who2 Biographies.[82]
Ken Jennings first appeared onJeopardy! on June 2, 2004, shortly after producers of the show eliminated the five-show cap for contestants. Because the five-game limit was removed, Jennings continued to win and eventually broke the winnings record set by Tom Walsh, who had won $186,900 in 2004.
Jennings set a record of 74 wins before he was defeated by Nancy Zerg in his 75th appearance. His total winnings from the program amount to $3,022,700, which includes $2,522,700 won in his initial appearances and an additional $500,000 for his second-place finish in theJeopardy! Ultimate Tournament of Champions. In addition, at the end of Season 20, he set a one-day record of $75,000, which was later broken by Roger Craig, and even later by James Holzhauer.[83]
During his first run ofJeopardy! appearances, Jennings earned the record for thehighest American game show winnings. His total was later surpassed byBrad Rutter, who defeated Jennings in the finals of the Ultimate Tournament of Champions, adding $2,000,000 to his earlierJeopardy! winnings. Jennings regained the record after appearing on several other game shows, including appearances on1 vs. 100 andGrand Slam, culminating in an appearance onAre You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? in which Jennings won $500,000. Rutter retained theJeopardy! record by defeating Jennings in the finals of the Battle of the Decades tournament in 2014.
After his success onJeopardy!, Jennings wrote of his experience and explored American trivia history and culture inBrainiac: Adventures in the Curious, Competitive, Compulsive World of Trivia Buffs, published in 2006.
Jennings returned toJeopardy! finishing runner-up to the Watson Supercomputer (splitting $300,000 with a charity) and again for the Battle of the Decades where he finished runner-up to Rutter again (winning $100,000). Jennings's total winnings amount to $3,422,700.
His team finished runner-up in the 2019Jeopardy! All-Star Games relay tournament. In 2020, Jennings won theJeopardy! The Greatest of All Time primetime event, which thus gave him his firstJeopardy! tournament title and an additional $1,000,000 in winnings.
In September 2020, as hostAlex Trebek's pancreatic cancer progressed, Jennings became a consulting producer forJeopardy!, a role that included reading select on-air categories.[84] When Trebek died the following November, Jennings was named the first interim guest host of the program. His episodes began airing in January 2021.[85] In July 2022, Jennings became a permanent host of the show, along withMayim Bialik.[86] In January 2023, he was announced as the host ofJeopardy! Masters,[87] which premiered on May 8, 2023.[88] In December 2023, Jennings was named as the sole permanent host ofJeopardy! following Bialik's withdrawal.[89][90]
Nancy Zerg defeated 74-day champion Ken Jennings on November 30, 2004.[91] She was the first contestant to be called "a giant killer" despite losing the next day.
David Madden won the fourth-highest number of games onJeopardy! in non-tournament gameplay, winning 19 games and $432,400 between July 5 and September 19, 2005. As of April 2019, Madden ranked fourth in consecutive game wins (James Holzhauer, Julia Collins, and Ken Jennings) and also fifth in dollar winnings from regular games (Jennings, Holzhauer, Matt Amodio, and Jason Zuffranieri).[92] In the 2006Tournament of Champions, Madden won his first match[93] (defeating the eventual winner of the Tournament, Michael Falk), but failed to win his second-round match,[94] taking home a consolation prize of $10,000 and bringing his total to $442,400.[95][96] Madden was invited to take part in 2014's Battle of the DecadesJeopardy! event, but declined to participate due to contractual issues.[citation needed] However, he was invited and able to take part in its 2019 All-Star Games tournament, featuring 18 past champions. Madden was the seventh out of 12 picks in the All-Star Games Draft in September 2018, thus becoming a member of "TeamBrad" along with his former Princeton University Quiz Bowl teammateLarissa Kelly, the 6th pick in the draft.[97] Team Brad won its first-round match and in the final episode, airing on March 5, 2019, won the All-Star Games Tournament grand prize of $1,000,000, which was split between the three team members.[77] After Madden's share of the prize was received, his all-time Jeopardy! earnings totaled $775,733.33, which as of March 2019 ranked third all-time behind Rutter and Jennings.
Victoria Groce defeated 19-day winner David Madden in 2005 and returned toJeopardy! in 2024, winning theJeopardy! Invitational Tournament andJeopardy! Masters.
Larissa Kelly won a total of $222,597 over six games and $1,000 third place consolation prize in her seventh game, with her last appearance airing May 28, 2008. At the time of her run on the program, Kelly was the highest-winning female contestant and ranked fifth in all-time inJeopardy! earnings (excluding tournament winnings).[98][99][100]
In addition to previously being the highest-winning female contestant in regular play, Kelly brokeKen Jennings's record for most money won in five days by winning $179,797.[100] Kelly is also the third-highest-winning female contestant in any single game inJeopardy!'s history, as her $45,200 performance[101] trails Maria Wenglinsky, who won $46,600 on November 1, 2005,[102] and Emma Boettcher, who won $46,801 on June 3, 2019, after upsetting long-running champion James Holzhauer.[103]
Kelly's husband and sister were also contestants. Her husband fell to Jennings and her sister to Aaron Schroeder, the victors being later finalists in the 2009 Tournament of Champions. She appeared again in the 2019 Jeopardy! All-Star Games team tournament with Madden on Rutter's winning team.
Roger Craig set a then one-dayJeopardy! winnings record of $77,000 during his second appearance on the show in September 2010.[104] Craig won the Tournament of Champions the next year, and in the process set a then record for largest daily double (unadjusted) inJeopardy! history.[105]
He appeared again in the 2019 Jeopardy! All-Star Games relay tournament with 2013 Teen Tournament champion Leonard Cooper on Rogers's team.
Watson is a "deep question answering system" built byIBM to playJeopardy! Watson was in a two-game, three-day exhibition match againstKen Jennings andBrad Rutter that aired February 14–16, 2011. Watson won the match with a total of $77,147.
Colby Burnett was the firstJeopardy! contestant to win both the Teachers Tournament and the Tournament of Champions. A teacher atFenwick High School inOak Park, Illinois,[106] Burnett won the Teachers Tournament in November 2012.[107] In February 2013, he won the show's Tournament of Champions, taking home the $250,000 grand prize.[108] He later appeared on season 3 ofTBS's reality game showKing of the Nerds.[109] Burnett is known for competing wearing oversized suits, sometimes with jackets that stretch all the way down to his knees.
Burnett appeared in the 2019Jeopardy! All-Star Games tournament, with his team and finished third behindBrad Rutter's andKen Jennings's teams.
Arthur Chu first appeared onJeopardy! on January 28, 2014, and almost immediately became a lightning rod because of his unusual playing style. Hisgame theory, "Forrest Bounce", and furious pressing of the signaling device made him one of the show's most controversial contestants. As of January 31, 2021, Chu ranks eighth on the list of all-time highest-earningJeopardy! non-tournament champions,[110] with an 11-day total of $297,200. His winning streak came to a close when he lost his 12th game but won $1,000 for finishing in third place, leaving him with a final total of $298,200. After his initial appearance on the show, Chu competed in the 2014Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions, finishing second to Ben Ingram, an IT consultant from South Carolina. Chu won $100,000 for his second-place finish, bringing his overall winnings to $398,200.
Julia Collins had the fifth-longest streak of consecutive victories, behind Ken Jennings, Amy Schneider,Matt Amodio, and James Holzhauer, with 20 wins and $429,100, until Mattea Roach surpassed her wins total on May 3, 2022. She was the second person to win 20 games in a row. In the 2014Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions she finished second in her quarterfinal game against Joshua Brakhage and 2013 College Champion Jim Coury, but reached the semifinals as a wild card. She then won her semifinal game, advancing to the finals, where she finished third, behind Ben Ingram and Arthur Chu.
Collins appeared again in the 2019Jeopardy! All-Star Games relay tournament with Ben Ingram and Seth Wilson.
Alex Jacob is a former professional poker player who lives inChicago, Illinois, and worked as a currency trader for the Gelber Group.[111] In 2015, Jacob won six games and the 2015 Tournament of Champions. In a Final Jeopardy round where Jacob did not need any additional money to win the game, he humorously wrote "What isAleve?", mimicking the slogan of one of the show's regular advertisers.
Jacob appeared again in the 2019Jeopardy! All-Star Games relay tournament with 2015 Teachers Tournament champion Jennifer Giles on Buzzy Cohen's team.
Matt Jackson, 13-time champion, surpassed Arthur Chu's 11-game winning streak with his 12th win on October 12, 2015. He has also beat Chu in regular season cash earnings with a total of $413,612.[112] He competed in the 2015Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions, finishing second toAlex Jacob.
Jackson appeared again in the 2019Jeopardy! All-Star Games relay tournament alongsideKen Jennings and 2012 College Championship winner Monica Thieu.
Austin David "Buzzy" Cohen, a recording industry executive fromLos Angeles, won $164,603 over nine games in April and May 2016.[113] Many of his victories were guaranteed victories, which allowed Cohen to wager nothing and use his final response to make jokes aboutAlex Trebek, which earned him both praise and disdain fromJeopardy! fans.[114][115] He returned for the 2017 Tournament of Champions, which he won, collecting the grand prize of $250,000.
Cohen appeared again in the 2019Jeopardy! All-Star Games relay tournament.
After Trebek's death, Cohen hosted the May 2021Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions.[116][117]
Seth Wilson is a Ph.D. candidate and adjunct professor formerly from Chicago, now fromNacogdoches, Texas, who won $265,002 over 12 games in September and October 2016, making him the contestant with the fifth-highest number of consecutive wins in the show's history, beatingArthur Chu's number of winning games.[118] He later returned for the 2017 Tournament of Champions, but failed to win his first match, taking home a consolation prize of $5,000.
Wilson appeared again in the 2019Jeopardy! All-Star Games relay tournament on Julia Collins's team with Ben Ingram.
Cindy Stowell was a science content developer fromAustin, Texas, who was diagnosed with untreatable terminalcolon cancer between passing the qualifying test and auditioning in person. A lifelong fan of the show, Stowell requested that producers rush her into taping as soon as possible because of her condition, a stipulation the producers honored. She was under pain management and experienced fever and stomachache throughout her run, during which she won $105,803 over six games, which she donated to cancer charities. Her fellow contestants were unaware of her illness. Stowell died eight days before her first episode aired, but did get to watch the first three of her episodes when producers provided her with an advance DVD.[119][120]
At the end of theJeopardy! credits on December 21, 2016,Alex Trebek gave a tribute to Stowell and said, "For the past sixJeopardy! programs, you folks have been getting to know the talented champion Cindy Stowell. Appearing on our show was the fulfillment of a lifelong ambition. What you did not know is that when we taped these programs she was suffering from Stage IV cancer. And sadly, on December 5th, Cindy Stowell passed away. So from all of us here atJeopardy!, our sincere condolences to her family and her friends." This was followed by "IN MEMORIAM Cindy Stowell 2016."
Austin Tyler Rogers is a bartender fromNew York City who earned $445,000 over 13 shows in 2017. Described by one account as "Krameresque" and by Trebek himself as "outside the box, completely different from what many viewers expect a 'Jeopardy!' contestant to be,"[121] Rogers is known for his flair and quirky poses, pantomiming humorous actions when being introduced. Although he does not own a television set, he prepared for qualification by watching a lot ofJeopardy! episodes and knowing its tricks.[122][123] Before James Holzhauer, he was the only contestant with two of the top ten one-day totals: $69,000 on October 3, 2017 (third place) and $65,600 on October 2, 2017 (seventh place).[124] In the 2017 Tournament of Champions, Rogers finished third behind Buzzy Cohen and Alan Lin. All three finalists (including Seth Wilson) appeared at theJeopardy! All-Star Games in 2019. Rogers was also a contestant onCash Cab. He won $2,400 with one other rider doubling their winnings on the video bonus at the end of the trip.
Paris Themmen, a former child actor known for playing Mike Teevee inWilly Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971), appeared onJeopardy! as a regular contestant on March 13, 2018, finishing in second place.[125]
Jackie Fuchs, an attorney and former musician who was a bassist forThe Runaways under her stage nameJackie Fox, appeared onJeopardy! as a regular contestant in December 2018. She won four games, accumulating $87,089 in winnings.[126]
James Holzhauer, a professionalsports gambler fromLas Vegas, Nevada,[127] and a native ofNaperville, Illinois,[128] set the single-gameJeopardy! winnings record of $110,914 during his fourth appearance on the show in April 2019, beating the previous record of $77,000 held byRoger Craig.[129] He eclipsed his own record on April 17 with a final single-game total of $131,127. He holds the top 16 single-game winnings records.[130] At $25,000, he also exceeded Philip Tiu's prior record of $19,000 for largest successful Daily Double wager.[131][132] At $60,013, he exceeded his own prior record of $38,314 for largest successful Final Jeopardy wager of all time.[133]
Before Holzhauer, the record for largest successful Final Jeopardy wager was $34,000, held by Austin Rogers.[134] His $298,687 total winnings across his first five days also surpassed the five-day record set in 1990 byFrank Spangenberg (when adjusted for the changes in the values of the clues)—the only contestant to do so. He is now the second-highest winning contestant in regular game (non-tournament) winnings, surpassed only byKen Jennings.[135] In addition to an aggressive wagering strategy, Holzhauer also goes for the highest values on the board first to amass his totals quickly, making it more difficult for his opponents to catch up, and increasing the money he has available to wager when he hits a Daily Double.[136]
Holzhauer lost on June 3, 2019, to Emma Boettcher, making his 32 wins the fourth-longest streak in show history, and his total winnings of $2,462,216 are the second-highest in regular-season play. Holzhauer also had won the third-most money overall on the show as of June 6, 2019, andcounting winnings on all game shows, is third overall after winning the Tournament of Champions in a rematch with Boettcher.[137] He then went on to participate in theJeopardy! The Greatest of All Time primetime event, winning one of four matches and finishing second overall behind Jennings.[138]
Holzhauer has a Bachelor of Science in liberal arts & sciences major in mathematics[139] from theUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he graduated in 2005.[140] Before his performance onJeopardy!, Holzhauer was on two other television game shows:The Chase on September 2, 2014,[141] and500 Questions on May 22, 2015.[142] Of the two shows, he had the greater success onThe Chase. In the finalChase round (as team leader with two other contestants participating), Holzhauer defeatedMark Labbett ("The Beast") with a score of 26–9, splitting a prize of $175,000 with his team.[141]
Emma Boettcher, a 27-year-oldUniversity of Chicago librarian, supplantedJames Holzhauer asJeopardy! champion on June 3, 2019, preventing him from surpassing the $2.52 millionKen Jennings earned during his 2004 winning streak. Boettcher was the highest-winning female contestant in any single game ofJeopardy! with $46,801, surpassing the $46,600 Maria Wenglinsky earned on November 1, 2005.[143][144][145] She won three games, for a total of $98,002.[146] Boettcher's performance was unusual in that most contestants who upset a long-running champion lose in their next episode[147] Only Jonathan Fisher (who defeated 38-game champion Matt Amodio) had greater success than Boettcher following the defeat of someone who had won more than 10 games.[148]
Boettcher said she would use her first-day winnings to pay off student loans and give back to theUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Information and Library Science, where she received her master's degree in information science in 2016. Her master's paper for that degree, "Predicting the Difficulty of Trivia Questions Using Text Features", relied onJeopardy! clues.[143] Boettcher received her bachelor's degree in English from Princeton in 2014. She has worked at the University of Chicago as a user experience resident librarian[149] since August 2016, with her focus on faculty and student experiences with the university's library services. She auditioned for theJeopardy! College Championship while at Princeton, but was not selected.[143]
Boettcher was granted a wild-card invitation to the 2019 Tournament of Champions, partly to set up a potential rematch with Holzhauer and partly because one of the automatic qualifiers, 2018 Teachers Tournament winner Larry Martin, died before reaching the tournament. Boettcher advanced to the finals of the tournament, landing a rematch with Holzhauer. She split the two-game final with him but lost by a larger margin in the first game, finishing as first runner-up with a $100,000 prize.[150]
Jason Zuffranieri (/ˌzʌfrəˈnɛəriː/), a 43-year-old[151] math teacher[152] atAlbuquerque Academy inAlbuquerque, New Mexico,[153] won 19 games in a row, with total winnings of $532,496. He lost his 20th game on September 26, 2019, to Gabe Brison-Trezise, who prevented him from accumulating enough money to have a guaranteed win going into Final Jeopardy. Brison-Trezise gave the correct response to Final Jeopardy while Zuffranieri did not, relegating him to second place and $2,000.[154]
With his performance, Zuffranieri became the fourth-winningest contestant in regular-season play, and moved into fifth place for most consecutive games won, tied with Madden and behind only Jennings, Holzhauer, Matt Amodio and Julia Collins.[155]
Zuffranieri is originally fromDepew, New York, where much of his family still resides. He moved to Albuquerque during his childhood and was previously a rocket scientist before becoming a teacher.[156] He tried out for the show eight times before being selected to participate.[157] He returned for the 2021 Tournament of Champions and became a wildcard semifinalist after contestant Ryan Bilger won in a runaway game, but lost the semifinal match to Jennifer Quail, thus taking home a $10,000 consolation prize.
Jennifer Quail, awine tasting consultant and published author[158][159] fromDowagiac, Michigan, won $228,800 during her eight appearances on the show,[160][161] making her the second-most successful female contestant in terms of money won and consecutive appearances in regular play – behindJulia Collins and ahead ofLarissa Kelly. She lost on her ninth appearance, finishing in second place, with a consolation prize of $2,000.[162][163] Quail appeared in the 2021 Tournament of Champions, finishing as the first runner-up to winner Sam Kavanaugh.
MacKenzie Jones, a program development director fromTulsa, Oklahoma, won $204,808 in eight appearances on the show.[164][165] She was the fourth female contestant to win eight or more games and the fourth female contestant to win $200,000 or more in regular play. On her third appearance,[166] Jones tied Boettcher's highest single-game total for a female contestant during regular play at $46,801, beating her opponent on that day by $1. She lost on her ninth appearance, finishing in second place, earning an additional $2,000. She returned for the 2021 Tournament of Champions, but failed to win her first match, taking home a consolation prize of $5,000.
Brayden Smith, a policy intern fromLas Vegas, Nevada, won $115,798 in five appearances of the show.[167] He was the final five-game champion of the Trebek era. Smith was known for his uncanny ability to find Daily Doubles as he found (and answered correctly) all nine Daily Doubles in the first three games of his run.[168][169] On February 5, 2021, Smith died suddenly and unexpectedly at age 24,[170] and his family set up a donation fund in his name, whichJeopardy! ended up donating to, as was revealed in the 2021 Tournament of Champions.[171]
Matt Amodio, a PhD student incomputer science atYale University[172][173] and a native ofMedina County, Ohio,[174] won $1,518,601 during his 38 consecutive wins on the show,[175] making him the third millionaire contestant (based on regular-season play) after Jennings and Holzhauer.[176][177] He is the third-highest earner of all time in regular-season play,[178] has won the third-highest number of consecutive games,[179] and is the fourth-biggest all-time winner.[180] During season 37, Amodio qualified as the second seed in the next Tournament of Champions.[181] Amodio is noted for his strategy of consistently prefacing his responses with "What's" instead of adjusting theinterrogative pronoun to fit the response. He chose this method becauseJeopardy! rules allow any question containing the correct response to be used; by not having to adjust the pronoun, he has one less thing to think about when formulating a response, potentially speeding response time.[182] He has creditedWikipedia's format for allowing him to meander through various topics in a random but logical progression and learn content quickly.[182] His 38-game winning streak is often called "The Amodio Rodeo".[183]
Jonathan Fisher, an actor originally fromCoral Gables, Florida, won $246,100 in 11 wins onJeopardy!, losing his 12th appearance.[184][185] He ended Amodio's 38-game streak on October 11, 2021.[186] During season 38, he qualified as the second seed in the next Tournament of Champions until Amy Schneider surpassed him on December 1, 2021.[187] Fisher was the first contestant to have a winning streak of at least ten games after defeating another champion who also won at least ten games.[188] He became the 11th contestant to achieve ten wins.[188] His winning streak ended on October 26, 2021, when he lost to Nancy Donehower.[189]
.jpg)
Amy Schneider, an engineering manager fromOakland, California, won $1,382,800 and 40 games in a row, the second-longest winning streak inJeopardy!'s history[190][191][192][193] and the fourth-highest winnings in regular-season play.[194][195] Schneider is the fifth-biggest all-time winner,[196][193] and the fourth regular-season millionaire (after Jennings, Holzhauer, and Amodio), while being the first transgender and female one.[197][198] During season 38, she qualified as the first seed in the next Tournament of Champions.[199][200] On November 21, she won the tournament, along with its $250,000 grand prize.[201] She was the first openly transgender person to compete in, and to win, the Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions.[202] Of the significance of her gender identity, she said: "The fact is, I don't actually think about being trans all that often, and so when appearing on national television, I wanted to represent that part of my identity accurately: as important, but also relatively minor."[203]
Sam Buttrey is a podcaster, bon vivant, and retired Associate Professor of Operations Research at theNaval Postgraduate School living inPacific Grove, California. He won $100,000 in the 2021 JeopardyProfessors Tournament and a spot in 2022Tournament of Champions. Buttrey appeared in the 2022 Tournament of Champions and finished third behind Andrew He and Amy Schneider.
Mattea Roach, a tutor living inToronto, Ontario, and originally fromHalifax, Nova Scotia, won 23 games in a row (moving them into fifth place for the most consecutive games won in show history) with their run ending on May 6, 2022,[204] having won US$560,983 (sixth in show history).[205] They are the longest-running and highest-earning Canadian champion inJeopardy! history.[206] Roach was seeded third in the 2022 Tournament of Champions, behindAmy Schneider andMatt Amodio.[207]
Ryan Long won 16 games in May and June 2022, and $299,400. He lost his 17th game to future six-day winner and 2022 Tournament of Champions semifinalist Eric Ahasic. Ryan also appeared in the 2022 Tournament of Champions, losing in the quarterfinals to Maureen O'Neil. His previous jobs include dishwasher, water ice truck driver, piano delivery guy, airport security worker, supermarket cashier, bouncer, street sweeper, warehouse laborer, package handler, office clerk, CCT operator, and rideshare driver.[208][209]
Cris Pannullo, a customer success operations manager fromOcean City, New Jersey, won $748,286 during his 21 appearances in October, November and December 2022.[210] His games were interrupted by theTournament of Champions andSecond Chance Tournament.[211] Pannullo was defeated on the December 6, 2022 episode by Andy Tirrell.[212]
Andrew Tirrell, professor ofpolitical science andinternational relations fromSan Diego, California, won $67,399 during six appearances, including regular season contests in December of 2022, and appearances in the 2024Champions Wildcard Tournament. Tirrell defeated 21-game champion Cris Pannullo on December 6, 2022,[213] and won $50,000 as runner-up to Juveria Zaheer in the Champions Wildcard.[214] He served as the alternate for the 2024Tournament of Champions. During his first-day Jeopardy! contestant chat, Tirrell discussed the fisheries research he conducted in Arctic Norway, while his second-day contestant chat revealed his plans to use part of his winnings to start backyard beekeeping with his son, Theo.
Hannah Wilson, a data scientist fromChicago, Illinois, won $229,801 during her eight appearances in May 2023, and has qualified for the Tournament of Champions. Hannah has identified herself as transgender and has cited Amy Schneider as an inspiration to compete on the show.[215]
Ben Chan, a philosophy professor fromGreen Bay, Wisconsin, won $252,600 during his nine appearances in April[216] and May 2023, and has qualified for the Tournament of Champions. All nine of his wins were runaway victories.[217]
Adriana Harmeyer, an archivist inWest Lafayette, Indiana, fromHuntington, West Virginia, won $351,600 during her 15-day win-streak in June and qualified three times over for the Tournament of Champions.[218] On June 19,Drew Basile fromBirmingham, Michigan defeated Harmeyer to end her historic run.[219][220]
Jay Fisher, a former appointedState Senator from Illinois for 22 hours, defeated nine-day champion Issac Hirsch and won $31,200 before losing on his fourth appearance.[221]
And so nine additional invitations went out including one to Burns Cameron, the biggest-ever money winner on the old 'JEOPARDY!' whom Merv thought it would be a good idea to have as well.
Mr. Forrest was so brilliant that he did not need to use much strategy to crush his opponents.
Spangenberg, 47, came up short in the TV quiz show's "Ultimate Tournament of Champions" semifinal round, losing to Los Angeles screenwriter Jerome Vered. ... In 1990, Spangenberg won more than $100,000 on "Jeopardy!"[permanent dead link]
Mr. Jennings's second-place finish paid him $500,000, and the third place finisher,Jerome Vered, received $250,000.
Until Monday, when Madden lost for the first time in 20 games, the 24-year-old alum held the title of reigning champion. He earned $430,400 in all, second only to Jennings, who earned more than $2.5 million over the course of 74 wins last year.[permanent dead link]
By the time the episode on which he finally lost was broadcast last month, Mr. Madden had won 19 straight games – second only to Mr. Jennings – and his winnings came to $432,400. ... Mr. Madden was the captain of the Quiz Bowl team at Ridgewood High, and was on a similar freshman team at Princeton. When he comes home he says he plans to teach high school and perhaps enter politics. But his days as a quiz-show star are probably behind him
In addition to being the "winningest" female champion in the quiz show's 24 seasons, she also has become the third biggest money winner behind all-time "Jeopardy!" champKen Jennings, who went home with $2.5 million, andDavid Madden, who won $430,400, representatives for the series said.
