James Holzhauer is so good at Jeopardy! the producers invented a Teacher’s Tournament to get him off the airwaves before he bankrupts the show. That’s not true, of course — the tournament happens every year and 15 educators will vie for $100,000 in cash. But it’s fun to imagine the game show’s staff frantically inventing ways to put Holzhauer out of business before he eats Alex Trebek and Co. out of house and home.
Holzhauer has already won more than $100,000 a number of times over the course of his 22 day run, which certainly puts all the work the teachers will do over the next two weeks into perspective. And given that the pro sports bettor’s win streak will freeze at 22 wins and $1,691,008 won for a fortnight while teachers battle it out, it’s fun to look back at the wreckage Holzhauer has left in his wake since he started his assault on the game show.
On Monday, Deadspin published a feature written by a former Jeopardy! contestant that interviewed contestants that endured the “buzzsaw” that is Holzhauer. It’s a glowing profile of Holzhauer’s dominance brought to life by the people he beat. And the biggest thing you take away from the piece is that the people on stage feel just as in awe of Holzhauer as viewers have been watching at home.
Some of the quotes are true gems.
“I had been stressing a lot about how I would do and if I would win, and suddenly the choice was taken away from me,” said Lorelle Anderson, clobbered in Holzhauer’s 10th game. “I felt relieved.”
“I felt intimidated,” said Libby Wood, soundly defeated in Holzhauer’s 19th victory. “I couldn’t imagine beating this guy who’d been steamrolling dozens of others before me.”
The times that Holzhauer has been close to the brink, he’s always come through.
“I had a pretty sizable lead, so I was getting pretty confident,” said Satish Chandrasekhar, who played in Holzhauer’s second game, one of the only competitive matches. “And then, for lack of a better word, shit kind of hit the fan. James got that third Daily Double and pretty much doubled up. Just like that, I was behind.”
Another interview with a former contestant, Adam Levin, may contain the secret to just how Holzhauer might go down.
The Boston Globe notes that Levin came within $18 of beating Holzhauer last week, and he thinks it’s because he got to see Holzhauer in action before he started his game against him.
But Levin had a slight edge that day: Because the show tapes five episodes in one day, and selects 12 contestants to come to the set for 10 spots, Levin was one of two extra contestants called in on Tuesday, Feb. 26. He ultimately wasn’t selected that day, meaning he was able to watch Holzhauer play five games before facing him in competition.
“I was able to note what he was doing and see how he was playing differently than ever seen before, and I was able to process that,” he said.
When Levin arrived to play in the first taping the next day, he was prepared.
“I was lucky to beat him on the buzzer a few times, and lucky especially to get a late Daily Double and keep the game close at the very end and make a big wager on Final Jeopardy,” he said.
During Ken Jennings 74-game winning streak, contestants literally saw the dynamo on TV and then saw him in the TV studio parking garage and lost their nerve before they ever got to the stage. If Holzhauer keeps this up, the same will happen for him. But at least one Jeopardy! loser says that might be what eventually brings him down.
