James Holzhauer continues to bask in the glow of Jeopardy! success, and you can’t make him apologize for how he’s gone about winning more than $1.6 million over the course of 22 games of the trivia show. Holzhauer is a pro sports bettor who has a knack for the buzzer, wagering big and knowing just about everything the show throws at him.
Much has been made about his strategy and what he’s done to brutalize opponents 22 minutes at a time, dominating the board and making huge wagers on Daily Doubles to amass leads the other contestants on the show can’t keep up with. It’s led to some critics saying he’s ruining the game, or perhaps not playing within the spirit of the rules.
But Holzhauer isn’t going to apologize for how he plays, and says he’s not trying to intimidate anyone with his style. And, perhaps more importantly, while Jeopardy producers can stop you from betting certain amounts, they aren’t upset with the big numbers Holzhauer has put up in the prize fund. Holzhauer spoke to The Washington Post about how, among other things, he might have a bright future in baseball after his Jeopardy! playing days are through.
Holzhauer is far from finished on the show, though, he’s just on hiatus while the annual Teacher’s Tournament is played out. Still, he knows Jeopardy! producers are far more concerned about the show’s ratings than they are about how much money he makes.
Not surprisingly, Holzhauer cited the cold, hard data reflecting “Jeopardy!”’s bottom line — viewership has soared as his winning streak has grown — to defend his approach.
“There’s definitely some people who don’t like the product they’re seeing on screen right now,” he said. “But I don’t think the producers are complaining.”
It certainly makes sense that the ratings and attention Holzhauer has given the show is worth whatever profits he reaps from the prize budget. The sports bettor is a sensation, and people far outside of the usual audience for game shows have tuned in to watch him break down the very nature of the game with his breadth of knowledge and strategy. Even the contestants he’s beating have been impressed with the way he plays, and it looks like Holzhauer is here to stay on the show for some time.
Which is great news for Jeopardy!, even if their accounting department may say otherwise.
