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SBNation, TVWeek, Jeopardy

Have You Seen This Guy Making a Mockery of ‘Jeopardy!’? Some Observers Fear He May Have Destroyed the Show

Apr 18, 2019  •  Post A Comment

A contestant who has dominated “Jeopardy!” for the past two weeks has been winning by such wide margins that some observers are worried that he may have destroyed the show.

James Holzhauer, a 34-year-old professional sports gambler who lives in Las Vegas, has been so dominant that at times host Alex Trebek appears shell-shocked.

Holzhauer is on a 10-game winning streak and has chalked up total winnings of $697,787. But it’s not just that he’s winning, it’s that he’s crushing the competition and setting a ton of records along the way.

Holzhauer has already registered the four highest single-day payouts in “Jeopardy!” history, topped by Wednesday’s haul of $131,127.

His unconventional strategy includes going after the highest-value clues first and placing enormous bets on Double Jeopardy and Final Jeopardy. The strategy is backed up by Holzhauer’s speed on the buzzer, wide knowledge of virtually everything and instantaneous recall.

Even Ken Jennings, who still holds the “career” record with more than $2.5 million in “Jeopardy!” winnings, is commenting about Holzhauer. Jennings sent out a tweet Wednesday saying: “This is absolutely insane. I’ve always wanted to see someone try Jeopardy! wagering this way who had the skills to back it up.”

SBNation observes that the Holzhauer phenomenon has made the show “appointment television.” At the same time, the piece notes that Holzhauer is “breaking ‘Jeopardy!’ and making geniuses look like idiots.”

“Holzhauer has found a way to break the game, and rack up money at a rate nobody has seen before,” SBNation reports, adding: “He might be the most exciting game show participant of all time,”

Here’s a clip posted by “Jeopardy!” following Wednesday’s show …

5 Comments

  1. This guy is INCREDIBLE !! And while everyone is waiting to see what happens next, I’ve got a prediction to make: Democrats will start complaining that the RULES of Jeopardy, set down by our Founding Fathers many years ago are no longer applicable in the modern world. They’ll say EVERYTHING needs to be CHANGED about Jeopardy…until one of them can win. In fact I heard Adam Schiff talking about it just yesterday. Hahahahaha ! 🙂

    • Wow, you really can turn any story into a tirade about Democrats. You must be a fun guy to hang out with.

  2. Sir William,
    I heard Republicans asking, “what is Jeopardy?”

  3. I a. Getting bored watching the show, going to find something else to watch intil this guy is of the show.

  4. Sir William you are a prophet. Libs are complaining James is gaming the game, exploiting the rules, and that his play is boring and unfair. Actually the guy is a genius (has a very high percentage of right answers), has reinvented the game’s basic strategies and mastered the mechanics. He’s earned every penny. Libs dont really want redistribution of wealth as much as they hate to see others succeed.

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