History knowledge spells win for Holzhauer in 'Jeopardy! GOAT' series
It was Jeopardy James for the win Wednesday evening on “Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time.”
James Holzhauer, a Naperville North High School alum with relatives and a fan following in town, claimed the second match in the first-to-three-wins series against fellow “Jeopardy!” greats Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter.
Now a professional sports gambler living in Las Vegas, Holzhauer made a bet on Final Jeopardy in the second of two games in Wednesday's show and got the 19th century history question right. His knowledge about “world leaders mocked for being short” put his two-game score to 82,414.
Jennings, who won Tuesday's first installment of the “Jeopardy! GOAT” contest, didn't answer Final Jeopardy correctly and finished the evening with 57,400 points. Rutter came in third for the second night in a row with 14,400.
“Will tomorrow be Brad's day?” host Alex Trebek asked at the close of the broadcast. “Tune in and find out, won't you?”
Thursday's show, the third in the series, begins at 7 p.m. on ABC.
Holzhauer made it to the “Greatest of All Time” show by racking up the third-highest “Jeopardy!” earnings total of $2.7 million, following only Rutter in the lead with $4.6 million and Jennings in second with $3.3 million. Holzhauer also has won the most in a single “Jeopardy!” game, at $131,127, and he claimed the title in the show's “Tournament of Champions” in November.
Holzhauer fans gathered in downtown Naperville for a watch party Wednesday for the second time in a row, this time at Quigley's Irish Pub. Donations accepted benefitted DuPage PADS after attendees to Tuesday's party raised $1,038 for the Lustgarten Foundation for pancreatic cancer research.