On Wednesday, James Holzhauer, 34, won a record breaking $131,127 on Jeopardy, after playing a perfect game. It was a record he’d already set on April 9, when he won $110,914, according to the Chicago Tribune. After winning for ten days straight, Holzhauer has collected $697,787 — becoming permanently etched in the history of Jeopardy and an object of my intense envy.
Holzhauer, a sports bettor from Las Vegas, is the second highest earner in the show’s history according to ESPN. In first place is Ken Jennings, who collected $2.5 million over a 74 game winning streak in 2004. Before Holzhauer went on the show, no one had ever won more than $77,000 in a single day.
Holzhauer correctly answered all 40 questions on Wednesday’s show. The final one: “His first name refers to the ancient district in which you’d find the Greek capital; his surname is a bird.”
“Who is Atticus Finch?” Holzhauer wrote. He added: “This is for you Granny.” He included messages like that on many of his game-winning answers, which seems like it would be against the rules, but apparently not.
I have just a few more questions for Holzhauer (there is no financial reward for answers): What are you going to do with all that Jeopardy money? Do you think you’ll ever be able to enjoy a trivia night at a bar again? How do you know the answer to so many questions? What’s on your reading list, what newsletters do you subscribe to?
