James Holzhauer, Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter faced off in the opening edition of Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time on Tuesday with Jennings taking Day 1 by a mere 200 points over Holzhauer.
So, of course, we shouldn’t expect that narrow Day 1 loss to dampen the Jeopardy legend’s spirits. Come Wednesday, Holzhauer was right back at his game with the trash talk against Jennings, pointing out how Jennings had never won a Jeopardy tournament.
Holzhauer won the most recent “Tournament of Champions” while Jennings — despite his record 74-day winning streak — had never won a tournament after his streak. Holzhauer grouped Jennings in the same class as President Donald Trump who, uh, hasn’t won a Jeopardy tournament either.
The numbers don’t lie.
The three Jeopardy legends will continue their GOAT tournament on Wednesday. The first to three wins takes home the $1 million prize.
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Jeopardy! legend Ken Jennings had to sit there in his Seattle home all of last spring and watch as the confident and personable James Holzhauer went on his dominant run and won over large parts of America.
Time and again during that streak Jennings had to hear others, including Holzhauer, speak of how this professional gambler from Las Vegas, this Jeopardy James character, could take out anyone in this game, even the great Ken Jennings.
Imagine how Jennings felt having to listen to these claims. Jennings, as we know, is the GOAT of Jeopardy, having won a record 74 games in a row. Holzhauer only had a 32-game streak but still, in this day-and-age of what have-you-done-for-me-lately attitudes, everyone was wow’d by how much money Holzhauer was winning on each show and how easily he was beating his competition, and how his strategy was game-changing!
On Tuesday night Jennings finally got his shot at Holzhauer (and Brad Rutter), as the first episode of Jeopardy! Greatest of All Time aired. It was a very close night and a perfect way to kick off the tournament. I’m going to give a spoiler here, so if you didn’t watch, go away right now. Dump your phone in your coffee. Turn and sprint out of your office. Throw your computer off the desk.
Do whatever it takes (within reason).
Because here comes a spoiler.
Jennings, the GOAT, let everyone know he’s still the baddest man in the Jeopardy planet as he went all-in on a Daily Double in the Double Jeopardy round and then held on to win the first game of the night with 33,200 points. Holzhauer finished in second with 16,600 and then Rutter was third with 5,200 after missing an all-in Daily Double in the Double Jeopardy round.
What a message sent by Jennings, who is second only to Rutter in most money earned on Jeopardy. What. A. Stud.
Here’s a man who won 74(!) in a row and had to hear doubters weigh in with thoughts that some big personality professional gambler could take down the champ.
Shame on them!
Sure, Holzhauer won the night’s second game but Jennings won the overall night by 200 points over Jeopardy James and takes a 1-0 lead into the rest of the tournament.
Tuesday night was the first episode of the Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time tournament, which is a primetime showdown between three of the best to ever play the game – James Holzhauer, Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter.
James Holzhauer, Ken Jennings or Brad Rutter: Who will win the “Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time” tournament?
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You may have heard about some epic Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time contest, but you don’t really know what that means or what’s happening — and you want to. That’s OK; we’re here to help.
ABC reality programming chief Rob Mills told USA TODAY that after Holzhauer’s incredible run, the network “had to make this happen” and called it his “dream project”.
So this special Jeopardy! tournament is to determine, once and for all (or until someone new comes along), who the GOAT is.
As we said, it’s a special tournament for three players: James Holzhauer, Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter. Unlike the Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions where several winners from the previous season (or seasons) compete and are eliminated, this competition will feature only these three players.
While 35-year-old Holzhauer’s 32-game win streak (No. 2 all time) aired this past spring, Jennings, 41, won 74 consecutive games (No. 1 all time) in 2004. Rutter, 45, first appeared on the show in 2000 when contestants were limited to five-game win streaks, but he has earned the most prize money of all time with about $4.7 million thanks to tournaments
“When James had his run last year, a lot of people were wondering, well how would he do against Ken Jennings? How would he do against Brad Rutter? (They’re) our two most successful players in “Jeopardy!” history,” host Alex Trebek said in an interview with USA TODAY. “These three players have won close to $10 million in ‘Jeopardy!’ prize money and over 100 games among them, so it was logical.”
If you need a refresher about who these guys are, our Charles Curtis broke down each player’s stats and history on Jeopardy! and what makes them qualified to be in a GOAT contest.
When is Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time?
This special tournament taped in December. The first show will air Tuesday, January 7 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC, and there will be at least two more on Wednesday and Thursday at the same time. Each show is an hour long with the tournament’s unique format, but more on that later.
Is it replacing regular daily Jeopardy! programming?
No, regularly scheduled Jeopardy! episodes will still air this week at their typical times on their usual channels. The Greatest of All Time series is separate.
Is the Jeopardy! GOAT series played in the same format as the traditional show?
Yes and no. The game itself will be the same as always, but determining the winner of the whole tournament is totally different.
Each one-hour show consists of two complete Jeopardy! games, which normally stand alone to fill 30-minute TV slots. Those two games equal a match, and the player with the most winnings from the two combined games wins the match. The first player to win three matches will be named the Jeopardy! GOAT.
For example, if Holzhauer, Jennings and Rutter each win one of the first three matches this week, there will be at least two more matches.
Because of the format, the tournament could be as short as three days or as long as seven, and the shows will air on consecutive weeknights, except Monday, until someone wins three matches.
What does the winner get?
Aside from lifetime bragging rights — there’s been plenty of trash talk leading up to this competition — the winner of the Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time tournament will receive $1 million, while the two runners-up will get $250,000 each.
What is the Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time TV schedule?
The GOAT tournament will air:
Tuesday, January 7, 8-9 p.m. ET Wednesday, January 8, 8-9 p.m. ET Thursday, January 9, 8-9 p.m. ET
Friday, January 10, 8-9 p.m. ET*
Tuesday, January 14, 8-9 p.m. ET*
Wednesday, January 15, 8-9 p.m. ET*
Thursday, January 16, 8-9 p.m. ET*
The clue: This the question we’re all waiting for Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time to answer, starting on Tuesday night on ABC at 8 p.m. ET, in a series of one-hour back-to-back games.
The special series pits James Holzhauer, Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter — three of its biggest winners — against each other, with the victor claiming serious bragging rights and also $1 million (the runner-ups get $250,000, which is still a huge Jeopardy! payday).
If you’re not familiar with them all, this is your guide, a tale of the tape as they get set to face off in primetime.
James Holzhauer
Longest winning streak: 32 games (second all-time)
Career regular-season winnings: $2,462,216 (second all-time)
All-time winnings including special tournaments: $2,712,216 (third all-time)
Other accomplishments: He owns every place in the top 10 of single-game winnings thanks to his super-aggressive betting, especially on Daily Doubles; won the 2019 Tournament of Champions, defeating Emma Boettcher — who eliminated him in the regular season to stop his win streak — in the process.
Ken Jennings
Longest winning streak: 74 games (first all-time)
Career regular-season winnings: $2,520,700 (first all-time)
All-time winnings including special tournaments: $3,370,700 (second all-time)
Other accomplishments: Finished second to Brad Rutter in the Ultimate Tournament of Champions and in Battle of the Decades, and second to IBM computer Watson.
Brad Rutter
Longest winning streak: five games (note that he competed in 2000, when the rules limited contestants to winning just five before stepping away from the show)
Career regular-season winnings: $55,102
All-time winnings including special tournaments: $4,688,436 (first all-time)
Other accomplishments: He’s won the 2001 Tournament of Champions, the Million Dollar Masters, the Ultimate Tournament of Champions, Battle of the Decades, and the All-Star Games. He also placed third against Watson.
James Holzhauer will face Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter in a “Greatest of All Time” tournament, a primetime event starting on Jan. 7 at 8 p.m. Eastern.
That’s right, per a USA TODAY exclusive, Jennings — the man who won 74 straight games before bowing out — will get to prove he’s the Jeopardy! GOAT. Holzhauer — winner of 32 straight but who nearly bested Jennings’ all-time non-tournament winnings AND who just won the 2019 Tournament of Champions — will try to beat him for the crown.
And let’s not forget: Rutter won $4,688,436 in all-time winnings including tournaments. So he’s a darkhorse threat to his two opponents.
The top three contestants in JEOPARDY! history will face off in an epic primetime special event: “JEOPARDY! The Greatest of All Time,” starting January 7 at 8|7c on ABC. #JeopardyGOATpic.twitter.com/7PJUi57206
Holzhauer has already begun the trash talk, WWE-style, aimed at Jennings and Rutter:
You know they say that all men are created equal, but you look at me and you look at @KenJennings and you can see that statement is not true. pic.twitter.com/Oi1dO4qomI
See, normally if you go one on one with another @Jeopardy contestant, you got a 50/50 chance of winning. But I'm a genetic freak and I'm not normal! So you got a 25%, AT BEST, at beat me. Then you add @bradrutter to the mix, your chances of winning drastic go down.
See the 3 way at the GOAT, you got a 33 1/3 chance of winning, but I, I got a 66 and 2/3 chance of winning, because @bradrutter KNOWS he can't beat me and he's not even gonna try!
So @KenJennings, you take your 33 1/3 chance, minus my 25% chance and you got an 8 1/3 chance of winning the GOAT. But then you take my 75% chance of winning, if we was to go one on one, and then add 66 2/3 per cents, I got 141 2/3 chance of winning the GOAT.
Here’s how the tournament is going to work, per USA TODAY:
It consists of a series of two back-to-back games, airing weeknights (8 EST/PST) beginning Jan. 7. The player with the most combined winnings from the two games wins the “match,” and the play continues on successive nights (except Monday) until one of them has won three matches and takes home a $1 million prize. (The other finishers get $250,000 apiece). That means the tournament can last anywhere from three to seven days.
It’s brilliant both from a gamesmanship and a marketing perspective, because it prevents any talk of “small sample size.” One winner-take-all game isn’t going to truly decide the title.