Video Purportedly Shows Sports Bettor Holzhauer Losing on ‘Jeopardy!’

Posted on: June 3, 2019, 01:05h. 

Last updated on: June 4, 2019, 04:34h.

Todd Shriber @etfgodfather Read More
Expertise: Financial, Gaming Business, Mergers and Acquisitions.

In news that has various social media platforms buzzing Monday, leaked footage from the day’s scheduled episode of “Jeopardy!” appears to show professional sports bettor James Holzhauer losing, thus ending the run of one of the show’s most dominant players.

Professional sports bettor James Holzhauer, here shown receiving the key to Las Vegas in May, apparently saw his 32-match “Jeopardy!” winning streak snapped on an episode scheduled to run Monday. (Image: Associated Press)

Leaked footage of the episode appeared on Twitter on Sunday via an account known as @TheRandomIntel. As of midday Monday, that account has just 242 followers and has posted merely 11 tweets. Random Intel credited another Twitter user, @Goliath, for obtaining the show footage.

The 60-second video shows Holzhauer and his two competitors revealing their guesses for the clue “The line ‘A great reckoning in a little room’ in ‘As You Like It’ is usually taken to refer to this author’s (sic) death.”

“Jeopardy!” contestants must answer clues in question form, making the right question to the final round clue “Who is Christopher Marlowe?”

A Bad Beat?

In the unofficial footage, Holzhauer entered the last round of the game with $23,400 and nailed the final clue. By the standard set throughout his 32-day “Jeopardy!” winning streak, Holzhauer’s wager in Monday’s episode was modest. Although he got the clue right, his war chest for the episode rose to just $24,799.

Over the course of his winning streak, Holzhauer, a Las Vegas resident, showed plenty of bravado, often wagering amounts previously rarely, if ever, seen over the course of Jeopardy’s 35-year history. In his first appearance in early April, Holzhauer won more than $40,000. Soon after, he was obliterating Jeopardy records, including winning $131,127 on April 9, then the single-game mark.

As of May 22, Holzhauer was winning an average nearly $77,800 per appearance on the show, making his bet in Monday’s final round appear meager by comparison.

According to the video, the sports bettor entered Monday’s Final Jeopardy! in a rare position: trailing one of his competitors. Contestant Emma Boettcher went into the last round with $26,800. Seemingly taking a cue from the Holzhauer playbook, Boettcher bet big. Not only did she pin down the Christopher Marlowe clue, but she also bet $20,201, taking her winnings to $46,801.

Holzhauer’s small wager led to some speculation on Twitter that he intentionally lost, but it is worth noting he was assured of second place in this particular episode and may have been betting that if both he and Boettcher got the Final Jeopardy! clue wrong, he probably would have won because she would have placed a larger wager than he did, thereby reducing her winnings to an amount below his tally.

A Stellar Run

Holzhauer, an Illinois native, extended his “Jeopardy!” winning streak last Friday, boosting his winnings to $2.46 million. Add in $2,000 from finishing second Monday and he falls just short of the all-time mark of $2.52 million held by Ken Jennings.

While the footage remains unofficial, it appears Holzhauer is acknowledging defeat. In a tweet posted Monday, he said:

Knew I shouldn’t have invited @Drake to the @Jeopardy taping.”

To his credit, Holzhauer, who was awarded a key to the Las Vegas Strip by city officials last month, was gracious in defeat, high-fiving Boettcher after host Alex Trebek confirmed she won.