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Just when you entertained the idea thatJames Holzhauer, the greatest (and most strategic)Jeopardy!champion since Ken Jennings, couldn’t possibly run out of steam and succumb to a defeat at the hands of another contestant’s buzzer, in struts Emma Boettcher to say,Hell no.That’s exactly what happened on Monday’s episode, anyway, when Boettcher was able to defeat Holzhauer in a close match, stopping him short of breaking Jennings’s regular-game earnings record ($2,464,216 to Jennings’s $2,520,700, to be precise.) Boettcher now has the distinction of being the newest inductee into the Game Show Beast-Slayers Club and will continue her run per normal this evening, as if nothing massive just happened.
This history ofJeopardy!players who’ve defeated a megachampion piqued Vulture’s interest — so much so we decided to look back at the most memorable instances over the past decade. (We love a good run!) The following results, admittedly, are pretty far from what we expected.
Total games won:1
Total prize earnings:$15,401
A Realtor from California, Zerg had the distinction of topplingJeopardy!’s most famous contestant after seven months of his domination — a feat aided by Jennings getting both Daily Double clues wrong. “I thought,Somebody is going to beat him, and it might as well be me,’’ she laterexplained. “I watched some of the other players’ attitudes, and they lost the game in the parking garage before they even got to the studio.” Zerg went on to lose her very next game by a significant margin.
Total games won:1
Total prize earnings: $23,801
The Georgia musician thwarted Madden’s journey to reach the 20-Something Club, thanks to her careful Final Jeopardy! wager in the Ranks & Titles category. (Fun fact: Madden was a graduate student living in Berlin at the time and pissed off his professors with his long absence.) “I’m genuinely interested in almost everything under the sun,” Maddensaid about his success. “I’d run through facts in my head to make them stick, sometimes with mnemonic devices.” Groce finished last in her next game.
Total games won:1
Total prize earnings: $24,600
A Final Jeopardy! clue about literature aided Collins’s demise — she bet it all and lost — with Loughnane, an investment manager from Massachusetts, sliding in as the victor. He immediately lost his next game, while Collins did a lovely press tour about the show’s girl power. “If it helps dispel the idea that women aren’t as goodJeopardy! players as men, that would be great,”she said. “It’s good to see women being applauded for being smart.”
Total games won:1
Total prize earnings:$17,201
Late-night shows lost somepremium content after Jackson’s defeat: He was known for the slow, creepy smiles he delivered when the camera panned in on him. (Yup, we have aGIF for you.) “It is pretty hard to wrap my mind around,” Jackson said of his winning streak. “A returning champion finds out pretty quickly thatJeopardy! is actually, under the surface, an endurance contest.” Baker, a travel editor from New York, was eliminated — sensing a trend here? — by a close margin in the following game.
Total games won:1
Total prize earnings:$34,201
Rogers, a certified-freshfan favorite, lost to Sims by a mere $51 — thosepantomimes were gone, but definitely not forgotten. “Jeopardy!is a game show. Games are fun. There’s this weirdly intense ethos of gravitas applied toJeopardy!” Rogers told us about his style. “It’s not a hearing at the Hague. It’s not a session of the NATO joint chiefs. It’s a game show meant to entertain. So why not have fun on it?” The stay-at-home-mom from Tennessee promptly lost in her second game.
Total games won:1
Total prize earnings:$17,700
Chu, whoruffled a few feathers with his unconventional (and often brusque) “bounce” style of game play, was edged out by Peloquin thanks to a Final Jeopardy! clue about the British monarchy. “I was really interested in his playing style. I wanted to engage with that, and I had lots of time to study,” the Maryland law studentsaid after her win. “I really admired his playing style while watching his games, so I was surprised that there was such a backlash to it.” She —surprise —didn’t win another game after this.
Total games won:2
Total prize earnings:$54,999
The snazziestJeopardy!dresser in recent memory lost to Delaney, an English professor from California, before he could get to the double-digit-win tier. She credited her victory to hard work and the opportunity to observe Cohen before their face-off. “I was excited to play against him,” she latersaid. “He was a great competitor.” Cohen alsotold us after his run: “There was definitely a very polarized reaction to me. My defense of myself, I guess, is this is who I am. Short of being in court, I’m always injecting my personality into stuff.” Unlike the previous megachamp conquerors, Delaney earned another round of success, winning two games in total.
Total games won:4
Total prize earnings:$113,600
Japinga, a bona fideVulture contributor, earned himself the niche title of the most successful contestant to unseat a prominent champion, decisively winning three more games after beating Ingram and his smooth southern drawl.“People ask a lot if appearing onJeopardy! has been a lifelong goal, to which I say, sort of,” Japingasaid upon his eventual loss. “I’m not an obsessive viewer by any means. I’ve always enjoyedJeopardy! and have always been good enough at trivia.”
Total games won:1
Total prize earnings:$40,399
Castrodale snuck up on Craig during their Final Jeopardy! round, thanks to an impressive wager in a football-centric category. (Easy for her, as she’s a sportswriter.) “It was likeGladiator,” Castrodale, a North Carolina native, latersaid. “You just sit there helpless, like,I’ve got to face this guy.” She didn’t fare as well in her second game, finishing in last place.
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