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‘Jeopardy!’ Phenom James Holzhauer Only $60,000 From Show Record

Contestant James Holzhauer continues to sweep Jeopardy! and his winnings could soon set a record […]

Contestant James Holzhauer continues to sweep Jeopardy! and his winnings could soon set a record for the show.

Holzhauer won his 32nd straight game of Jeopardy! on Friday, raising his total winnings to a staggering $2,462,216. The professional sports gambler needs just $58,484 more to break the current winnings record, and he may well do it in the very next episode.

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Holzhauer won $79,663 on Friday, and has reached similarly high sums in the previous games as well. The streak has captivated the nation even beyond Jeopardy!‘s usual die-hard fans, bringing even more attention on the show in a year when many lapsed viewers were tuning back in.

The previous Jeopardy! winnings record was set by Ken Jennings, who won $2,520,700 in 2004. Jennings won 74 games in row to make that possible, so Holzhauer would still have a long way to go to beat him in that respect. However, in a recent interview on Good Morning America, Jennings admitted he was rooting for Holzhauer to beat his long-held record at last.

“For 15 years, I have thought somebody was going to make a run at this record, because I always knew it could be done,” Jennings said. “I was there. I saw it happen. What I did not expect was somebody could make a run at the cash record in, like, a third the time.”

Holzhauer’s gambling background has played into his Jeopardy! strategy, as he has attacked the game boldly. He has gone after the highest-value questions first and placed aggressive bets on the Daily Doubles when he can get them.

Jeopardy! is a cultural phenomenon going back decades, but there has been fresh interest in it this year as long-time host Alex Trebek battles stage 4 pancreatic cancer. The beloved Trebek announced his illness back in March, and was up front with fans about a topic many people keep silent about.

He has continued to be open about the process, and this month the 78-year-old revealed that he is “near remission” at last. Trebek is doing well against enormous odds, as pancreatic cancer at this stage is often fatal.

“It’s kind of mind-boggling,” he said. “The doctors said they hadn’t seen this kind of positive result in their memoryโ€ฆ some of the tumors have already shrunk by more than 50 percent.”

Trebek has joked that he cannot succumb to the disease, as he just recently signed a new three-year contract on Jeopardy! The quiz show airs on week nights at 7 p.m. ET on ABC.