Jeopardy!‘s All-Time Highest Earners to Face Off in Primetime Competition
Now this is a tournament of champions.
ABC announced Monday that Jeopardy!‘s three highest earners of all time — Ken Jennings, Brad Rutter and James Holzhauer — will face off against one another for the multi-night primetime event Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time.
Premiering Tuesday, Jan. 7 at 8/7c, the Jeopardy! tournament will air for at least three consecutive weeknights through Thursday, Jan. 9. The first contestant to win three episodes will receive $1 million and the title of Jeopardy!‘s all-time greatest player, while the runners-up will each receive $250,000. (If more than three broadcasts are required to crown a champion, those will continue on Friday, Jan. 10 and will potentially run into the following week.)
“I am always so blown away by the incredibly talented and legendary Alex Trebek who has entertained, rallied and championed the masses for generations, and the world class Jeopardy! team who truly are ‘the greatest of all time,'” said ABC Entertainment President Karey Burke. “This timeless and extraordinary format is the gift that keeps on giving and winning the hearts of America every week. We can’t wait to deliver this epic and fiercely competitive showdown — with these unprecedented contestants — to ABC viewers and loyal fans everywhere.”
“Based on their previous performances, these three are already the ‘greatest,’ but you can’t help wondering: Who is the best of the best?” added Trebek, who will of course preside over the competition.
Jennings earned Jeopardy! fame in 2004 with his 74-game winning streak, the longest in the show’s history (which amassed $3,370,700). Rutter, meanwhile, is the highest money winner across any TV game show, with total winnings of $4,688,436. Holzhauer, who became a household name earlier this year with an impressive winning streak, also just won the 2019 Tournament of Champions. His winnings total $2,712,216.
Are you looking forward to this Jeopardy face-off? And who are you rooting for? Hit the comments!
Yessssss this is amazing!! Jeopardy in primetime?! With an indefinite ending?! *mind blown
Well, not indefinite. Most it’ll be is 7 episodes. Which is what I hope it is!
This sounds fun. Also does this mean two Jepordays a day? Also these guys are all so good. I have my money on James!
Yeah, you’ll have the regular syndicated episode and the network (ABC) episode on the same day, presumably. In many markets they’ll be back-to-back. I suspect the ABC episodes will be taped much closer to air date than is the case for the syndicated episodes. IIRC the lead time during James’ run was well over a month.
The USA Today write up on this is that each night of prime time is 2 games, with the top moneymaker for both games winning 1 match. 3 matches takes the tourney. So this will be anywhere between 6 and 14 games for the 3 of them, depending on who wins the first few nights.
Rooting for Brad!
This will be must see tv for the geeks and nerds.
Don’t hate on people who are smarter than you. It isn’t their fault.
Yep, and I, for one, can’t wait! (I fly the nerd flag high and proud.)
This is awesome! Brad Rutter truly is the best contestant they’ve ever had. He doesn’t get the same recognition as Jennings and Holzhauer since he competed at a time when they had the 6-day winning cap. But he’s already beat Jennings in a face-off.
Rutter has only ever been beaten by a computer.
I still can’t believe I answered a triple stumper on a night that included Ken, Brad and Watson. (Seems like I read later that Watson or one of the humans got it, but that’s not what I remember.)
Actually Ken got second place in the IBM challenge and Brad got third.
Wow – this will be very interesting. Brad and Ken have the knowledge, but James’ reaction time and board strategy really makes him hard to beat! And, let’s face it, it beats reruns.
I can’t wait! I just said last week that this should happen!
Will be an interesting play off.
I will be rooting for Ken Jennings..He’s a regular guy like the rest of us. wonderful
personality and all round nice
person.
This is the greatest thing I have ever read!! I cannot wait for this!!
can’t wait! You go, James!!
I wish these episodes were done live. That would be really exciting. Like a sports event.
These should be live.
Considering Alex’s health issues, live may not be the best choice.
Frakking hell James is not going away anytime soon will he? I don’t understand why people don’t see how arrogant he is and why people like him so much
Is it really arrogance if he can back it up with successful game play?
Besides, the whole game is based on proving you know more than the 2 people standing next to you. You have to be a little arrogant to even play in the first place.
Go James!!!
👏🏼 👏🏼 👏🏼
I can’t help but wonder if Alex doesn’t have much longer. At least he’ll get to host greatest jeopardy of all time.
Great idea to get the best of the best together for a million dollar game. It does not matter who wins, what matters if Alex will be well enough to host the tournament. We all pray for the best game show host ever
So excited to see those 3 guys go against each other. Love them all. Not sure who I’m rooting for, But I’ll definitely be watching…
I love Jeopardy James!!
Go James Go!!
A series of matches between Ken Jennings, Brad Rutter, and James Holzhauer, huh? This is probably the next best thing if there can’t be a “Second Ultimate Tournament of Champions”…
Alex
Wow!! The best of the best. I can’t wait. Jeopardy just gets better and better!!
So 3 white hetero-normative cis-gender males competing for a million dollars. Talk about the lack of inclusion. Can’t wait to see what Euro-centric, his-story categories they have in these shows. I’ll take “Things Only White People Know” for $1000, Alex.
I’ve always been more concerned about the responses being primarily based on reaction time. Men
generally have a split second faster reaction time than women, likely because they tend to be stronger. There tend to be more U.S.-based categories because the show is aimed at U.S. audiences. Also, people who have access to better education probably do better. I like it when they throw in off-the-wall categories, kind of an equalizer for knowledge.
You’re so woke.
Gee, over the years there have been plenty of women, people of color, etc., on Jeopardy: it’s just happenstance that the three biggest winners are white males. Stop making this into a racial issue: don’t like it, don’t watch.
Yes, this is what I want to see! Perfect! Hope Alex Trebek will be okay to host this. He’s the best tv host around!
James
Can’t wait for this occasion!!
They’ve won so much money already, how bout if the prize monies get donated to a charity of their choice?