James Holzhauer’s run on Jeopardy! came to an end on Monday, when Emma Boettcher, a librarian at the University of Chicago, toppled the game show king in a spectacular performance.
Monday’s episode was highly anticipated because Holzhauer appeared set to break Ken Jennings’ cash winnings record in his 33rd game, but found himself falling $56,000 shy thanks to Boettcher. There were rumblings early in the day, fueled by Holzhauer tweets, that something big was going to happen, as he even mentioned the Drake Curse, but he kept it tongue-in-cheek as not to totally spoil things.
That wasn’t the case for others, as footage of the episode leaked early on YouTube, and Darren Rovell outright tweeted about it after it first aired in a few small markets in the morning. The spoilers of the show caused some outrage, as fans wanted to be surprised by the end of Holzhauer’s run — understandable given how it seemed almost impossible that he’d lose.
Jeopardy! executive producer Harry Friedman also wanted it to be that way, and told the Washington Post he and other producers have a pretty good idea of how the footage leaked and will take “appropriate action” against the culprit.
While Friedman said he “can’t say at this point” who posted the footage, producers have a good idea of what happened. “We think we know where and who and how,” he said, adding that the show will take “very, very, very appropriate” action against those responsible.
Friedman went on to thank the Jeopardy! community for generally being good about not spoiling episodes, particularly thanking those in the studio audience. While contestants sign non-disclosure agreements, the audience does not and is simply just asked not to talk about what they saw. Friedman expected news to leak before Monday, but was thrilled that everyone kept their mouths shut for the most part.
