The Latest ‘Jeopardy!’ Champion’s Run Makes James Holzhauer’s Records Even More Impressive

Jason Zuffranieri gave the Jeopardy! record books quite an impressive run, but much like James Holzhauer, he ultimately fell far short of the huge numbers that Ken Jennings put up on the quiz show back in 2003-04. The schoolteacher from New Mexico cracked $500,000 in winnings earlier in the week, with 19 straight victories that had made him the only champion in Season 36 of the show, which came back earlier in the month.

Zuffranieri lacked the astounding numbers of James Holzhauer’s earlier run in 2019, where he routinely blitzed competitors out of the game before the first commercial break and claimed many of the show’s highest single-game scores during his 32 straight wins in Season 35. But Zuffanieri was consistent and in control during his weeks atop the game show world, winning enough to put him third all-time in regular season earnings and making some wonder if a new Holzhauer was among us.

But like all streaks on Jeopardy!, his time came to an end on Thursday night, when he failed to find any Daily Doubles and missed a Final Jeopardy question about the Sydney Opera House. It’s probably not fair to compare three very different Jeopardy! champions purely based on numbers alone, but Zuffranieri’s 19-game winning streak is ultimately very different than Jennings and Holzhauer’s epic runs.

What’s wild about this streak is that, in basically any calendar year other than 2019, it would be seen as truly remarkable. His 19 games won is tied for fourth most in the show’s history, and he now sits firmly in third all-time in regular season winnings. Even factoring in all other tournaments and areas of play, Zuffranieri now sits eighth in all-time Jeopardy! winnings.

But that his $532,496 is barely more than a quarter of what Holzhauer won earlier this year truly shows how crazy those numbers were, and how difficult it is to properly evaluate other contestants on the show. Jason was dominant during his time as Jeopardy! champion, but the numbers look far more like everyone else’s performances on the show than Holzhauer or Jennings. Even Holzhauer had to joke about it in a tweet as Zuffranieri’s winnings piled up.

James was rooting for Jason, it should be made clear, and anyone who wins that much on Jeopardy! is a force to be reckoned with. But even putting up record book-worthy performances on Jeopardy! looks paltry compared to what Holzhauer did earlier in the year.

Much like Holzhauer it appears that he’s tweeting now that his time on the show is at an end.

The only bad news about Zuffranieri’s run is this: he won’t get a chance to compete in this year’s Tournament of Champions, as the field was already set before he stopped winning. When he does make that tournament, though, he’ll certainly be one to watch out for.