The biggest event in Jeopardy! history came to its conclusion on Tuesday night. In what might have been the most exciting evening of the Greatest of All-Time Tournament, Ken Jennings was able to edge out James Holzhauer and Brad Rutter en route to winning his third game and the title of the best to ever stand behind a podium.
Beyond the excitement that the show generated on its four-night run — and there truly was a whole lot of that if the ratings are any indication — all three competitors are great at using Twitter to keep the fun rolling along before, during, and after the various episodes. That continued at the conclusion of the show, as all three dudes got extremely online and kept up the banter.
Rutter, who struggled to get off the ground for large portions of the tournament, kept things pretty mellow. He congratulated his old pal, Jennings, for taking him down, then decided to lean into his status as a well-documented Philadelphia Eagles fan to make an NFL-themed joke at Holzhauer’s expense.
https://twitter.com/bradrutter/status/1217310390406660097
https://twitter.com/bradrutter/status/1217310396622655488
https://twitter.com/bradrutter/status/1217311000203890688
That last thing is a good burn from Rutter, although it’s hard to top Holzhauer getting one over on him during the final night of the tourney.
Poor Brad pic.twitter.com/KM8XqebPG9
— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) January 15, 2020
Holzhauer, who has been a very powerful poster ever since he first rose to fame on the show, started things off with a few pretty mild jokes.
If you ain’t first, you’re last pic.twitter.com/ZSbdV8OfOs
— James Holzhauer (@James_Holzhauer) January 15, 2020
And I would have GOAT away with it too, if it weren’t for you meddling Kens pic.twitter.com/dtYhNEOQ3Q
— James Holzhauer (@James_Holzhauer) January 15, 2020
He then decided to lean in, changing his name to GOAT Fodder and making his Twitter picture that of Iago from Aladdin — the show came down to knowing which Shakespeare character had the most monologues despite not being the titular character of one of his works. Jennings guessed Iago from “Othello” correctly, while Holzhauer did not get it right, handing the tournament to his rival.
From there, Holzhauer decided to thread out his thoughts on the show, praising Jennings for his performance.
All hail the #JeopardyGOAT pic.twitter.com/PI9yQKKp8U
— James Holzhauer (@James_Holzhauer) January 15, 2020
I’m sure we all wished it could have gone seven nights, but we got the next best thing: a dominant performance with a clear winner to settle the GOAT debate.
— James Holzhauer (@James_Holzhauer) January 15, 2020
Ken has graciously said he “had to play like James to beat James,” but the entire basis of my strategy was “let’s pretend I’m playing against a @KenJennings every game, just in case I actually am.” (In my 33rd game, #JeopardyEmma was equal to Ken on his best day.)
— James Holzhauer (@James_Holzhauer) January 15, 2020
Thanks to @KenJennings and @bradrutter for a hell of a match. Ken and Brad are great @Jeopardy players but even better people, and have been incredibly good sports about my kayfabe feuding and trash talk.
— James Holzhauer (@James_Holzhauer) January 15, 2020
Thanks to @ABCNetwork for taking a chance on us, to everyone on the @Jeopardy team for everything they do, and especially to Alex Trebek for gutting through the fight of his life to deliver an absolute A+ performance in prime time.
— James Holzhauer (@James_Holzhauer) January 15, 2020
And thanks to you, the fans, for making #JeopardyGOAT a smash hit. When they put me back on TV someday, it will be your fault.
What can I say? #JeopardyJames out. pic.twitter.com/51LtKbc9TS
— James Holzhauer (@James_Holzhauer) January 15, 2020
He ended his tweeting for the evening with a few more jokes before praising Rutter, who had a rough few nights but has repeatedly shown that he’s one heck of a competitor on the show.
Literally no. Did you even watch? https://t.co/g4Q0bEZTGM
— James Holzhauer (@James_Holzhauer) January 15, 2020
Hey @KenJennings, your fan mail keeps getting delivered to me by mistake https://t.co/KdqLlFwi2x
— James Holzhauer (@James_Holzhauer) January 15, 2020
Congrats to Ken on breaking that last-place tie, but look at that number next to Brad’s name. It was an honor to share the stage with a true #Jeopardy legend. https://t.co/mcftG6JRtu
— James Holzhauer (@James_Holzhauer) January 15, 2020
I believe Ken is now tied for second all-time with one tournament win. Brad, again, has FIVE.
— James Holzhauer (@James_Holzhauer) January 15, 2020
And then, there was Jennings, whose first address to the Jeopardy!-watching audience was that he plans on being a benevolent game show king.
I vow to be the People’s Champ. pic.twitter.com/PQUJ0ZKBY9
— Ken Jennings (@KenJennings) January 15, 2020
He then ripped off a series of tweets, too, about how things went down, his competitors, and the show’s beloved host.
I know this tournament was supposed to settle the Jeopardy "Greatest of All Time" question forever, but let's be honest: I got some breaks.
— Ken Jennings (@KenJennings) January 15, 2020
There's a lot of luck in a game of Jeopardy: the categories, who finds the Daily Doubles, who misses a fluky DD or Final…
— Ken Jennings (@KenJennings) January 15, 2020
If we ran this tournament back a dozen times, you'd probably see a different winner each time. Brad and James are just that good.
— Ken Jennings (@KenJennings) January 15, 2020
(We will NOT be running this tournament back a dozen times.)
— Ken Jennings (@KenJennings) January 15, 2020
@James_Holzhauer is a player so dominant that, when he took on the strongest players ever in his sport, they both had to adopt his exact style of play just to contain him. THAT's a once-in-a-generation talent.
— Ken Jennings (@KenJennings) January 15, 2020
@bradrutter got some tough breaks in this tourney, but real Jeopardy-heads know him as the guy who beat me in three straight tournament finals. For over a decade, he's really had the only credible claim as the Jeopardy GOAT.
— Ken Jennings (@KenJennings) January 15, 2020
Buzzing against both of them at once was a Jeopardy nightmare, but also the best time I've ever had on TV. They're just great and, should I ever be unable to fulfill my duties, I deputize them as co-GOATs.
— Ken Jennings (@KenJennings) January 15, 2020
And may Alex Trebek host for a thousand years. Good night!
— Ken Jennings (@KenJennings) January 15, 2020
Jennings had a few final things to say amid all of this. One tweet was about the presidential debate that was happening that same night, one was about Andy Richter, and one was about the late Merv Griffin.
Remember, defending champion Ken Jennings wants you to vote for Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren. https://t.co/aTwXK85iym
— Ken Jennings (@KenJennings) January 15, 2020
I refused to mention the name of my REAL Jeopardy rival in prime time. https://t.co/fllR02b47R
— Ken Jennings (@KenJennings) January 15, 2020
Gotta give it up to the Big Man himself *points upward to heaven* Merv Griffin pic.twitter.com/vlpM6aOkI4
— Ken Jennings (@KenJennings) January 15, 2020
As Jennings said, it would be a bit weird for them to do this tournament again and again, so it’s safe to assume we won’t see him go up against Holzhauer and Rutter in this format again any time soon. Having said that, if they want to keep tweeting about one another and lovingly bust each other’s chops, we won’t complain.
