ABC/Eric McCandless(LOS ANGELES) — Ken Jennings is officially the greatest Jeopardy! contestant of all time.
Jennings won his third match on the fourth episode of Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time, which aired Tuesday on ABC. He defeated Brad Rutter and James Holzhauer.
Jennings entered the match leading Holzhauer in the series. Rutter was winless. Tuesday’s two-game showdown was a back-and-forth contest between Jennings and Holzhauer. Jennings, leading Holzhauer by $10,000 going into the Final Jeopardy! round of the first game, sealed the deal by betting big and answering correctly, ending up with a total of 65,600 points.
Jennings was trailing going into the second game’s final round, with $23,000 compared to Holzhauer’s $44,000. However, while Jennings once again answered correctly, Holzhauer bet it all and lost, handing the victory to Jennings. Jennings’ total Jeopardy! earnings, including tournaments, now stand at $4,370,700.
“Based on their previous performances, these three are already the ‘greatest,’ but you can’t help wondering: who is the best of the best?” said longtime host Alex Trebek back in November.
Jennings holds the record for the longest winning streak in the history of Jeopardy!: 74 consecutive games, for a total take of $3,370,700.
Holzhauer holds 15 of the top single-day winnings records on Jeopardy!, and recently won the 2019 Tournament of Champions. His earnings going into The Greatest of All Time tournament totaled $2,712,216.
While Rutter failed to pick up a win against Jennings and Holzhauer, he still has the distinction of being the highest money winner on Jeopardy! — indeed, on any TV game show — winning $4,688,436 prior to this latest tournament.
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