James Holzhauer‘s run of 32 straight wins on Jeopardy!, with winnings totaling $2,487,015 (good for second all-time in the Alex Trebek-hosted trivia show’s history, behind only Ken Jennings), came to an end on Monday.
He was upset by Emma Boettcher, who “dominated her warmup games that day, and I knew she would make an extremely tough challenger,” said Holzhauer in a statement. “I was still incredibly impressed by her courage on that ‘True Daily Double.’ I’m proud that it took a top-level player at her absolute best to eliminate me.” Unlike the episode’s third contestant, Jay. That hack.
Anyway, unlike previous episodes, Holzhauer placed a small bet in Final Jeopardy, for reasons explained here, which led to speculation from viewers that the professional sports gambler was throwing the game. It can’t just be that he was beat by someone else — instead, as one conspiracy theory goes, he lost because his “daughter wanted him to come home & the thank you card she made #AlexTrebek sends us the biggest lesson of all: money isn’t everything.” This is in reference to Holzhauer tweeting that “my kid cried about the possibility of her dad losing, so I told her we could have a party the day after it inevitably happens. Now she cries when I win,” and a very endearing “get well” card.
Holzhauer’s response to this bit of speculation: “Sure, I could stick around and play a game that pays me $150,000 per hour, but I’d really rather get toys thrown at my crotch for free.” Here are some of the other, more wild theories.
Sure, I could stick around and play a game that pays me $150,000 per hour, but I'd really rather get toys thrown at my crotch for free https://t.co/xb6Fg6MMKP
— James Holzhauer (@James_Holzhauer) June 4, 2019
https://twitter.com/daveramos/status/1135701461504090119
hot take conspiracy theory. james got bored winning jeopardy all the time and just took a dive
— E-Dub (@EvSynWilliams) June 3, 2019
https://twitter.com/NerdyLadd/status/1135742771153649665
https://twitter.com/ccarlson43213/status/1135676389439483904
https://twitter.com/colin_mack/status/1135698638422892544
https://twitter.com/MikeJanela/status/1135690613461082116
https://twitter.com/andnowpearljam/status/1135524587230437377
James Holzhauer's loss on Jeopardy looked rigged.
On Final #Jeopardy he bet less than the leader's leading margin. Had she wagered 0, she'd still have won. Also, she'd have known he'd get Final Jeopardy correct, yet did not bet enough to beat him, had he bet everything. Hmmm.
— Sports Niagara-AG (@SportsNiagara) June 4, 2019
https://twitter.com/TheRealDurbs/status/1135739634695254016
I'll add my own Jeopardy James conspiracy theory – he's about to get handsomely paid in some way, shape or form and had to bow out of Jeopardy now…
— Kevin Payne (@KCPayne26) June 4, 2019
Well I think the whole thing was fixed but I hope I'm wrong..I just thought with the Bad news about Alex Trebek they wanted to give the show some new attention again just me with my conspiracy theories. #Jeopardy #AlexTrebek
— Milton (@DACOWBELLMAN) June 3, 2019
https://twitter.com/ItsMe_Teezy/status/1135701526436093954
Or maybe it was the most simple explanation of all.
Jeopardy Conspiracy Theory: @James_Holzhauer ran out of fun facts about himself so he threw the game.
— Shealyn (@sheangles) June 3, 2019
Holzhauer probably wanted to relate to that Weird Al song, too.
