Ken Jennings has done it. He is now officially the Greatest of All Time.
The trivia master triumphed on Tuesday night after demonstrating his enduring excellence over several days of the “Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time” tournament on ABC.
Jennings, 45, bested fellow “Jeopardy!” champions James Holzhauer and Brad Rutter to take home the $1 million prize and “GOAT” bragging rights.
“Jeopardy! GOAT" premiered on Jan. 7. Before the decisive fourth game, the tournament ran for three days, with Jennings winning the first game, Holzhauer winning the second and Jennings winning the third.
The last round of Final Jeopardy was in the “Shakespeare’s Tragedies” category.
The clue: “He has 272 speeches, the most of any non-title character in a Shakespeare tragedy."
“You’re the best, Alex!” Rutter wrote in reply, risking nothing. “It’s true, and I should get credit for it,” he insisted.
Jennings answered Iago, which was correct. He wagered nothing and remained at $23,000, having raked in $88,600 for the tournament as a whole.
But that was enough to beat Holzhauer, who incorrectly answered Horatio. Holzhauer wagered $44,000 to double his $44,000 total, landing him at a total identical to Rutter — zero.
“I can’t believe what just happened,” Jennings said in a segment after the tournament.
His original “Jeopardy!” winning streak lasted 74 games and ended in November of 2004.
Rutter and Holzhauer each receive $250,000 for playing in the “GOAT” tournament.
The three “Jeopardy!” champions often ribbed each other during the game and between matches on social media.
After Jennings won the first half of the Tuesday match by a large margin, host Alex Trebek said they would reset all of the contestant displays to zero for the purposes of the second half.
“Hey, Brad’s score is still on there,” Holzhauer joked, pointing to his zero (Rutter had in fact been left with no winnings after the first part of the match).
The audience was audibly moved by the dig.
“It’s gotten to be that kind of competition, hasn’t it?” Trebek said.
On Saturday, Jennings lightly taunted Holzhauer on Twitter.
“BREAKING: I have decided to follow @James_Holzhauer on Twitter, since he’s been following me on Jeopardy all week," he tweeted.
In a moment from the Jan. 9 game, Jennings had the opportunity to “OK boomer” Trebek.
The clue: “A 2019 New York Times article says this two-word phrase ‘marks the end of friendly generational relations.’”
“I get to say it to Alex!" Jennings said. "What is ‘OK boomer?'”
During the same game, Holzhauer sent a message to Trebek during Final Jeopardy.
The clue: “These two foreign-born directors have each won two best director Oscars, but none of their films has won best picture.” The correct reply was Ang Lee and Alfonso Cuaron, which no one got.
“Who is the GHOST? (Greatest Host of Syndicated TV),” Holzhauer answered. He crossed out “Pat Saj” and wrote “Alex Trebek.”
“I wish you had risked more points!” Trebek said.
Have a tip? Amy Kuperinsky may be reached at akuperinsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @AmyKup or on Facebook.
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