James Holzhauer (born August 6, 1984) is an American game show contestant and professional sports gambler. He is the fourth-highest-earning American game show contestant of all time. Holzhauer is best known for his 32-game winning streak as champion on the quiz show Jeopardy! from April to June 2019, during which he set multiple single-game records for winnings, and for winning the following Tournament of Champions that November.
Holzhauer won $2,464,216 in his 33 appearances, making him the second-highest winner in Jeopardy! regular-play (non-tournament) winnings (behind only Ken Jennings, who won $2,520,700 in 2004) and, at the time, second in number of games won (again behind only Jennings) although he has since been surpassed by Matt Amodio (38 games) and Amy Schneider (40). His $250,000 top prize in the Tournament of Champions, $250,000 runner-up prize in the Greatest of All Time Tournament and $500,000 first prize in the inaugural Masters tournament brought his total to $3,464,216, making him still the third-highest winning Jeopardy! contestant, behind Jennings and Brad Rutter. Holzhauer also set the single-game winnings record with $131,127 and holds all top 10 single-game winning records. Based on his success on Jeopardy!, Holzhauer has been nicknamed "Jeopardy James".Jennings, Ken, in
Early life Born on August 6, 1984, Holzhauer was raised in Naperville, Illinois. His father was a German immigrant. His maternal grandmother was Japanese and spoke very little English; he had promised her that he would appear on Jeopardy! before she died. In 1989, when Holzhauer was four, his teacher was astounded by his mathematical abilities and developed advanced classwork just for him. At age seven, Holzhauer was moved up to a fifth-grade math class, and skipped second grade at his mother's urging. Holzhauer consistently got A's on math tests and competed on the Naperville North High School math team.
Despite high marks on individual tests, Holzhauer was a C student overall, as he often shunned his classes on the grounds that he could use the time more "productively", such as playing online poker. Holzhauer memorized obscure baseball and professional wrestling statistics, prompting his parents to reprimand him for "wasting his life" learning about sports.
Holzhauer was a member of the Worldwide Youth in Science and Engineering Team that won the state competition at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; he contributed by taking first place in physics and second in math. Holzhauer graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics in 2005.
Career Game show appearances The Chase
Holzhauer appeared on the American version of the quiz show The Chase on September 2, 2014. In his first round, a one-minute round called the Cash Builder, Holzhauer correctly answered 12 questions out of 13 posed by host Brooke Burns; the last question was asked just before time expired and was quickly passed on by Holzhauer. His score set a record for the Cash Builder that was never surpassed during the show's run.
In his second round, Holzhauer faced Mark Labbett to determine whether he would advance to the final round and add money to the team prize pool. Holzhauer had a choice of three amounts to play for: $60,000 based on his score in the Cash Builder, $30,000 to reduce the difficulty of the round; and $120,000, which would increase the difficulty. He chose to play for $60,000; after the show, Holzhauer said that the odds did not favor playing for the maximum amount and that it was not worth the gamble.
The Chase was played head-to-head, with the players using hidden buttons to select multiple-choice answers. Holzhauer advanced to the finals and added to the prize pool with a score of five right and one wrong. Labbett scored a perfect five, with his final answer not revealed since Holzhauer had already achieved the necessary points to win the round.
In the Final Chase round (as team leader with two other contestants also participating), Holzhauer's team defeated Labbett by a score of 26 to 9, earning him a $58,333.33 share of the $175,000 team prize pool. By answering 19 questions correctly for his team, he set a Final Chase record, which was also never surpassed.
Bob Boden, the producer of The Chase, was impressed by Holzhauer's performance and had him audition to join the show as a colleague of Labbett. In July 2020, Holzhauer and several other famous game show contestants were said to be in negotiations to become chasers for a potential reboot of The Chase, which would be produced for ABC. The reboot starring Holzhauer, Ken Jennings, and Brad Rutter premiered January 7, 2021, on ABC.
500 Questions Holzhauer appeared on the American quiz show 500 Questions on May 22, 2015. This show did not allow the challenger to replace the champion unless the champion answered three questions wrong in a row. The incumbent champion, Steve Bahnaman, prevailed over Holzhauer, who did not receive any winnings.
Jeopardy!
Holzhauer appeared on 33 episodes of Season 35 of the American quiz show Jeopardy!, from April 4 to June 3, 2019.
During his first game, Holzhauer won $43,680, the second largest single-game total to that point in Season 35, behind fellow Tournament of Champions competitor Eric R. Backes' $48,001 on February 11, 2019. In his fourth game, which aired on April 9, Holzhauer broke the previous single-game Jeopardy! winnings record with a one-day score of $110,914, which surpassed the 45-year old record of Robert H. Smith, Jr., whose $3,900 from September 14, 1973, when adjusted to clue values since November 26, 2001, was $78,000. That also surpassed the gross winnings record of $77,000, set by Roger Craig in 2010.
During his appearances, Holzhauer exceeded Smith's single-day total 16 times (see table below), including a new all-time record set on April 17, when he won $131,127. Holzhauer is also the first and only player to win $100,000 or more in a single episode, a feat that he accomplished six times. His $298,687 total winnings across his first five days surpassed the five-day record set by Frank Spangenberg in 1990 before the changes in the values of the clues. Holzhauer is the only contestant to date to do so. He won a total of $2,464,216, averaging $75,362 per episode—a 33-day average that nearly equaled the previous all-time single-day record. Fellow Jeopardy! champion Ken Jennings has likened this feat to "a basketball player notching 70-point games for an entire season or a baseball player hitting for the cycle in every game".
Holzhauer was defeated in his 33rd game, which aired on June 3, 2019, and was watched by 14.5 million people. The winner, Emma Boettcher, used many of the same strategies as Holzhauer.
In July 2019, Jeopardy! confirmed that Holzhauer would return for the Tournament of Champions in November. Holzhauer won both his quarterfinal and semifinal games to advance to the final round, which featured a rematch against Boettcher, who was invited separately and also won her first two tournament games. Holzhauer won the two-day final, winning the first game by a larger margin than Boettcher won the second and claiming the $250,000 grand prize. The following week, Jeopardy! announced that Holzhauer would compete against Jennings and Rutter in prime-time specials for a million-dollar prize in Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time, which aired in January 2020. Holzhauer won one match in the tournament, but lost to Jennings in the others, and received the runner-up prize of $250,000.
Jeopardy! Masters On May 8, 2023, Holzhauer placed second in the first round of Jeopardy! Masters; despite knowing the Final Jeopardy! question, he wrote in an "answer" challenging Ken Jennings to a tournament. In spite of this, he won his bracket as he was far ahead of (over 20,000 points) the other competitors. He entered Final Jeopardy! with a lead (40,800 points). Earlier in the day, he had teased that he would be the "villain" of the tournament. On May 24, 2023, Holzhauer won the Masters tournament, edging out Mattea Roach and Matt Amodio to earn the $500,000 grand prize.
On May 22, 2024, Holzhauer wrapped up part one of the two part finals with a total of 28,309 points to hold a sizable lead going into part two of the finals, but ultimately he finished in third with a total of 38,017 behind winner Victoria Groce who finished with a total of 55,400 and runner up Yogesh Raut who finished with a total of 45,910.
Regular play winnings
Game no.Air dateFinal scoreCumulative winningsNotes 1 $43,680 $43,680 2 $82,606 3 $50,845 $133,451 4 $110,914† $244,365 First breaks record of Robert H. Smith, Jr., whose $3,900 from 1973 , when adjusted to decupled clue values when the 1984 version premiered was adjusted to $39,000, then further doubled in 2001, was adjusted to $78,000 and surpassed the gross winnings record of $77,000, set by Roger Craig in 2010. Also breaks first five days winnings record. (previously $205,194 held by Frank Spangenberg wafter adjusting for clue values) 5 $54,322 $298,687 6 $27,190 $325,877 Only game during his 32-day winning streak in which he failed to give a correct response in Final Jeopardy 7 $89,158 $415,035 8 $45,444 $460,479 Reached second-place on all-time Jeopardy! regular play winnings list. 9 $106,181† $566,660 10 $131,127† $697,787 Broke his own single-day winnings record. 11 $74,133 $771,920 12 $80,006 $851,926 13 $90,812† $942,738 14 $118,816† $1,061,554 Became second Jeopardy! contestant to win $1 million in regular gameplay winnings and the fastest contestant to hit the milestone. 15 $73,621 $1,135,175 Moved into #10 on American game show winnings list, including $58,333 he won in 2014 on The Chase. 16 $90,812† $1,225,987 Moved up to #9 on American game show winnings list 17 $49,600 $1,275,587 18 $1,329,604 Narrowest margin of victory, winning by $18. Challenger Adam Levin's final total of $53,999 is the highest second place regular play total in Jeopardy! history. 19 $96,726† $1,426,330 20 $101,682† $1,528,012 Moved up to #8 on American game show winnings list. 21 $80,615 $1,608,627 Passes Julia Collins for second-longest winning streak in regular play. 22 $82,381 $1,691,008 Holzhauer's run went on a two-week hiatus after this broadcast while Jeopardy! aired the Teachers Tournament following this episode. 23 $89,229† $1,780,237 Moved up to #6 on American game show winnings list 24 $86,905 $1,867,142 Moved up to #5 on American game show winnings list 25 $71,885 $1,939,027 26 $1,991,135 27 $74,400 $2,065,535 Became second Jeopardy! contestant to win $2 million in regular gameplay winnings and the fastest contestant to do so. 28 $130,022† $2,195,557 Moved to #4 on American game show winnings list 29 $59,381 $2,254,938 30 $69,033 $2,323,971 31 $58,612 $2,382,583 32 $79,633 $2,462,216 33 $2,464,216 Defeated by challenger Emma Boettcher, who finished the game with $46,801. Holzhauer trailed Boettcher heading into Final Jeopardy!, the first time he trailed a challenger at that point of the game. He was awarded the then-standard $2,000 prize for finishing in second place.
Tournaments
+ 2019 Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions Round Air date Final score Cumulative winnings Notes $30,635Las Vegas’ James Holzhauer wins first game in ‘Jeopardy!’ Tournament of Champions | Las Vegas Review-Journal $2,714,216 $30,156 $49,326 Aggregate total of $76,923 surpassed his nearest opponent Emma Boettcher, though Boettcher had the higher score in game two of the final. Holzhauer wins first place prize of $250,000, and moved up to #3 on American game show winnings list.