James Holzhauer in his closest ‘Jeopardy!’ game yet
Monday marked the end of an era on “Jeopardy!” But it didn’t mark the end of the James Holzhauer era on the popular game show.
The Las Vegas-based professional sports bettor won his 18th consecutive game — barely — over Adam Levin, a sports information director from Ashland, Massachusetts.
Holzhauer finished with $54,017 to edge Levin ($53,999) by $18 in his closest game yet. Holzhauer had $33,517 before winning $20,500 on Final Jeopardy to hold off Levin, who had $27,000 before winning $26,999 on Final Jeopardy.
Levin’s $53,999 is the highest-ever regular-play non-winning score in the history of the show, according to thejeopardyfan.com.
Holzhauer didn’t include a signature shout-out to family or friends on Final Jeopardy, such as the “Happy Birthday Booger” he wrote as a message to his 4-year-old daughter on one episode. That’s no longer allowed.
“Tragic news!” Holzhauer wrote on his Facebook page. “The end of a Jeopardy era is upon us on Monday … as the show’s producers have informed me that they’re no longer allowing personal messages in Final Jeopardy. No more shout outs!”
Holzhauer still gave a shout-out to Las Vegas. He said “Vegas Strong” as he bet $10,117 on a Daily Double. The amount was a reference to the mass shooting that took place in Las Vegas on 10-1-17.
Holzhauer, 34, increased his 18-day total to $1,329,604. He’s 17 of 18 in Final Jeopardy, 38 of 42 on Daily Doubles (for net earnings of $377,599) and has 636 correct replies in 659 attempts, according to thejeopardyfan.com.
Ken Jennings of Edmonds, Washington, is the all-time regular play earnings leader with $2,520,700, winning 74 straight games in 2004. Holzhauer is second.
The “Jeopardy!” fan website’s prediction model gives Holzhauer a 58.814% chance of breaking Jennings’ record.
Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on Twitter.