Leaked 'Jeopardy' Footage Appears to Show Reigning Champion James Holzhauer Lose Just Short of Setting Record

Jeopardy! has seen its fair share of contestants who have gone on massive winning streaks, with [...]

By Hannah Barnes

Jeopardy! has seen its fair share of contestants who have gone on massive winning streaks, with all-time champ Ken Jennings having won a staggering $2.5 million during his run on the show. Reigning champion James Holzhauer appeared to be on his way to beating Jennings' record, but leaked footage of a future episode may have revealed his fate.

Warning — Jeopardy! spoilers ahead.

To date, Holzhauer has appeared on 32 episodes of the game show and has won $2.4 million, and the footage is thought to be from Monday's episode and has since been deleted. But Holzhauer himself jokingly addressed it on Monday afternoon, working in a reference to the Drake curse felt by the Toronto Raptors on Sunday night and boxer Anthony Joshua on Saturday night after being photographed with the rapper.

In the clip, Holzhauer and contestant Emma Boettcher square off in the Final Jeopardy! round, with all three of the episode's contestants answering the question correctly. However, the first contestant did not wager enough to beat Holzhauer, whose answer was revealed second and added, according to host Alex Trebek, "a modest" wager to his score.

Even without her wager, Boettcher was left with more money than Holzhauer, and her addition of $20,201 put her well ahead of her fellow contestant, seemingly making her the new Jeopardy! champion and ending her rival's impressive winning streak.

It's unclear whether the video is real, though Holzhauer's fate will be revealed one way or another when Jeopardy! airs on Monday night.

Holzhauer appeared to address his time on the show in a tweet when he replied to CNN's Brian Stelter, who wrote, "Just walked into a bar that's playing [Jeopardy] reruns on every TV. No pressure, [James Holzhauer]…"

"If it's a rerun, I probably got this," Holzhauer responded.

When Holzhauer does inevitably lose, there's at least one person in his family who will be happy. The professional gambler joked on Twitter that his daughter is looking forward to the party he promised her after his winning streak ends.

CBS News shares that Holzhauer has provided the correct questions for 1,160 pieces of trivia and asked just 36 incorrect questions during his time on the show. He's also accumulated an average per-episode haul of around $77,000, while the average per-episode take-home for Jeopardy! contestants is around $11,900.

Photo Credit: Jeopardy!

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