Throughout Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time, the one constant away from the show we had was James Holzhauer, Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter talking trash to each other — in a good-natured way with much respect — on social media.
On the night that Jeopardy GOAT ended with Jennings claiming victory we got one more round of trash talk and some congratulations for the newly-minted GOAT.
Let’s start with Holzhauer, who did some of his best trash talking on the air. He did some trash talk to himself, changing his Twitter avatar to a picture of Iago, the bird from Aladdin, but also his namsake was the answer to the Final Jeopardy Holzhauer missed in Game 2 on Tuesday night: “He has 272 speeches, the most of any non-title character in a Shakespeare tragedy.”
He started out with some memes:
If you ain’t first, you’re last pic.twitter.com/ZSbdV8OfOs
— GOAT Fodder (@James_Holzhauer) January 15, 2020
And I would have GOAT away with it too, if it weren’t for you meddling Kens pic.twitter.com/dtYhNEOQ3Q
— GOAT Fodder (@James_Holzhauer) January 15, 2020
Then some congrats:
All hail the #JeopardyGOAT pic.twitter.com/PI9yQKKp8U
— GOAT Fodder (@James_Holzhauer) January 15, 2020
I’m sure we all wished it could have gone seven nights, but we got the next best thing: a dominant performance with a clear winner to settle the GOAT debate.
— GOAT Fodder (@James_Holzhauer) January 15, 2020
Ken has graciously said he “had to play like James to beat James,” but the entire basis of my strategy was “let’s pretend I’m playing against a @KenJennings every game, just in case I actually am.” (In my 33rd game, #JeopardyEmma was equal to Ken on his best day.)
— GOAT Fodder (@James_Holzhauer) January 15, 2020
Thanks to @KenJennings and @bradrutter for a hell of a match. Ken and Brad are great @Jeopardy players but even better people, and have been incredibly good sports about my kayfabe feuding and trash talk.
— GOAT Fodder (@James_Holzhauer) January 15, 2020
Thanks to @ABCNetwork for taking a chance on us, to everyone on the @Jeopardy team for everything they do, and especially to Alex Trebek for gutting through the fight of his life to deliver an absolute A+ performance in prime time.
— GOAT Fodder (@James_Holzhauer) January 15, 2020
And thanks to you, the fans, for making #JeopardyGOAT a smash hit. When they put me back on TV someday, it will be your fault.
What can I say? #JeopardyJames out. pic.twitter.com/51LtKbc9TS
— GOAT Fodder (@James_Holzhauer) January 15, 2020
He even kept telling fans who the real GOAT was:
Literally no. Did you even watch? https://t.co/g4Q0bEZTGM
— GOAT Fodder (@James_Holzhauer) January 15, 2020
Hey @KenJennings, your fan mail keeps getting delivered to me by mistake https://t.co/KdqLlFwi2x
— GOAT Fodder (@James_Holzhauer) January 15, 2020
Congrats to Ken on breaking that last-place tie, but look at that number next to Brad’s name. It was an honor to share the stage with a true #Jeopardy legend. https://t.co/mcftG6JRtu
— GOAT Fodder (@James_Holzhauer) January 15, 2020
I believe Ken is now tied for second all-time with one tournament win. Brad, again, has FIVE.
— GOAT Fodder (@James_Holzhauer) January 15, 2020
On to Jennings, who was humble in victory:
I know this tournament was supposed to settle the Jeopardy "Greatest of All Time" question forever, but let's be honest: I got some breaks.
— Ken Jennings (@KenJennings) January 15, 2020
There's a lot of luck in a game of Jeopardy: the categories, who finds the Daily Doubles, who misses a fluky DD or Final…
— Ken Jennings (@KenJennings) January 15, 2020
If we ran this tournament back a dozen times, you'd probably see a different winner each time. Brad and James are just that good.
— Ken Jennings (@KenJennings) January 15, 2020
(We will NOT be running this tournament back a dozen times.)
— Ken Jennings (@KenJennings) January 15, 2020
@James_Holzhauer is a player so dominant that, when he took on the strongest players ever in his sport, they both had to adopt his exact style of play just to contain him. THAT's a once-in-a-generation talent.
— Ken Jennings (@KenJennings) January 15, 2020
@bradrutter got some tough breaks in this tourney, but real Jeopardy-heads know him as the guy who beat me in three straight tournament finals. For over a decade, he's really had the only credible claim as the Jeopardy GOAT.
— Ken Jennings (@KenJennings) January 15, 2020
Buzzing against both of them at once was a Jeopardy nightmare, but also the best time I've ever had on TV. They're just great and, should I ever be unable to fulfill my duties, I deputize them as co-GOATs.
— Ken Jennings (@KenJennings) January 15, 2020
And may Alex Trebek host for a thousand years. Good night!
— Ken Jennings (@KenJennings) January 15, 2020
Rutter totally got Holzhauer back and congratulated Jennings:
Congrats to @James_Holzhauer as well. Have the New Orleans Saints been in touch about a job? Because with their tendency to talk a bunch of trash after losing in the playoffs, you’ll fit right in.
— Brad Rutter (@bradrutter) January 15, 2020
lol
— Ken Jennings (@KenJennings) January 15, 2020
Huge congrats to my old frenemy @KenJennings on his most impressive #JeopardyGOAT victory. That was the best playing I’ve ever seen and I’ve been watching @Jeopardy for 35 years. Pictured: me trying to absorb some buzzer mojo in case there’s a next time pic.twitter.com/B5bB7AnwCv
— Brad Rutter (@bradrutter) January 15, 2020
Hard disagree
— Brad Rutter (@bradrutter) January 15, 2020
We’ll miss these guys being on television together.
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