Ken Jennings is back.
The legendary player known for his record-setting 74-game streak in 2004 pulled off yet another victory — by just $200 — in the first night of the “Jeopardy! Greatest of All Time” tournament.
In the tournament, three of the game show’s winningest contestants — Jennings, James Holzhauer and Brad Rutter — are facing off for the first time ever.
Beloved host Alex Trebek kicked off Tuesday’s show amid loud cheers and whoops from the studio audience. “Welcome to what we believe will be the greatest ‘Jeopardy!’ tournament ever,” Trebek, who is battling stage 4 pancreatic cancer, said over the applause. “For the first time in 36 years, we have gathered the three best players on the same stage.”
The three veteran contestants didn’t disappoint, collectively missing just a few clues and mostly going “all in” — betting all their money — during Daily Doubles and Final Jeopardy.
“It’s a pleasure to pick up the buzzer and be on the set and hear your voice,” Jennings told Trebek partway through the hour, when the host chatted with each contestant. “I do feel like I’m back home.”
The “Greatest of All Time” format differs from a regular game. Each night — airing at 8 p.m. Eastern and Pacific (7 p.m. Central and Mountain) on ABC in prime time — is what Trebek calls “a two-game total point affair.”
On each night, the three players will compete in two back-to-back traditional half-hour games whose dollar totals are added together. Whoever has the most money at the end of the hour gets a point; the first contestant to accrue three points will win $1 million and “GOAT” bragging rights. The unusual structure means the tournament, which was taped in November, could take as little as three nights or as many as seven.
At the halfway point on Tuesday night, Rutter’s podium read $10,400, Holzhauer’s had $33,200 and Jennings’ showed $45,000.
Though Rutter was the favorite going into the evening, his score boomeranged up and down throughout the two games. He missed more than one “true Daily Double” and the second Final Jeopardy — his score returning to $0 each time.
Jennings and Holzhauer both got the second Final Jeopardy question correct, boosting Jennings to a total of $63,400. Holzhauer was just $200 shy with $63,200. Rutter ended the night with the measly $10,400 from the first game.
Holzhauer, a 35-year-old professional sports gambler from Las Vegas, set 20 different “Jeopardy” records during his 32-game win streak in the summer of 2019 — including the one for most money won in a single game: $131,127.
Meanwhile, in 2004, Jennings won his record 74 consecutive regular-season games. The 45-year-old former software engineer from Seattle is now an author.
For his part, Rutter, 41, has earned the most money in “Jeopardy!” history, a whopping $4,688,436. (Jennings is the second-biggest all-time earner, with $3,370,700, while Holzhauer’s $2,712,216 puts him third in the record books.)
When Rutter appeared on the show in 2000, contestants were limited to five days on the program — so he earned the rest of his money in tournaments and other special events.
Trebek bantered with the legends, asking Rutter if his playing had changed in the nearly two decades since he’d first been on the program.
“In the past 20 years of my life, I have slowed down a step or two,” Trebek said. Rutter admitted his “recall” isn’t quite what it was in 2000.
The second half of the hour-long program included a video tribute to Jennings’ “Jeopardy!” career; similar homages to Holzhauer and Rutter will air in the coming days.
“I love the life ‘Jeopardy!’ gave me. I am deeply indebted,” Jennings said. “I’ve finished second place in a bunch of these tournaments. I would love one more crack at this.”
And he’s one night closer to his goal.