‘Jeopardy GOAT’ Champion Ken Jennings Reveals Why He Wagered $0 on That Final Question

Ken Jennings was recently crowned champion of the Jeopardy! Greatest of All Time tournament, and the all-knowing victor has now revealed why he wagered $0 on that final question. In an interview with Good Morning America, Jennings explained his logic over the moment, admitting that there’s a “little bit of math” involved when “wagering” on the beloved game show.

“And generally what happens is the person in second should often make a very small wager,” he said. “You’re counting on the person in first to make a big wager so it doesn’t matter at that point. If they get it wrong they’re out, so it doesn’t matter what you wager.”

Notably, he later went on to praise competitor James Holzhauer for reinventing the way that the iconic game show is played. “It’s really just a credit to James how much he’s changed the game of Jeopardy! We’re gonna have to play like him if we were gonna have any hope of containing it. That’s how smart and demoralizing his strategy is.”

Holzhauer hilariously broke his silence on being beaten by Jennings by tweeting out, “If you ain’t first, you’re last,” a reference to the Will Ferrell comedy Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby.

He also fashioned a more elaborate statement, saying, “I’m sure we all wished it could have gone seven nights, but we got the next big thing: a dominant performance with a clear winner to settle the GOAT debate.”

“Ken has graciously said he ‘had to play like James to beat James,’ but the entire basis of my strategy was ‘let’s pretend I’m playing against a [Ken Jennings] every game, just in case I actually am.’ (In my 33rd game, [Jeopardy Emma] was equal to Ken on his best day,)” Holzhauer continued.

“Thanks to [Ken Jennings] and [Brad Rutter, the third contestant on Jeopardy! GOAT] for a hell of a match. Ken and Brad are great [Jeopardy] players but even better people, and have been incredibly good sports about my kayfabe feuding and trash talk.”

Sounds of Silence album cover.

Rutter later broke his silence, saying, “Huge congrats to my old frenemy [Ken Jennings] on his most impressive [Jeopardy! GOAT] victory. That was the best playing I’ve ever seen and I’ve been watching [Jeopardy] for 35 years. Pictured: me trying to absorb some buzzer mojo in case there’s a next time.” The statement was tweeted out with a funny picture of himself and Jennings.

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