| Isaac Hirsch | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Name: | Isaac Blevins Hirsch |
| Birth Hometown: | Ashton, Maryland |
| Occupation: | Customer support team lead |
| Years active: | 2017, 2023-2025 |
| Known for: | His 9-game winning streak on Jeopardy! |
Isaac Blevins Hirsch is a customer support team lead from Burbank, California.
Game Show Run[]
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?[]
Isaac won $5,000 on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? on May 22, 2017. His father Steve was his +1.
The Chase[]
Isaac won $46,667 of a $140,000 total on The Chase on January 19, 2023, playing with John Lance and Allison Johnson, defeating chaser Buzzy Cohen.
Jeopardy![]
Isaac Hirsch was the most dominant player of Season 40, finishing with 9 regular season wins and $218,390 in winnings on a 44% runaway rate. He was seeded as the 2nd seed in the 2025 Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions. During his regular season wins, he averaged just under $24,000 on an elite $20,000 Coryat Score. He also averaged an incredible 27 correct and 4 incorrect on 43 attempts per game, showing insane buzzer dominance.
Regular-season play[]
| Game No. | Air Date | Final score | Cumulative Winnings | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | July 3, 2024 | $19,185 | $19,185 | Isaac's first runaway game. |
| 2 | July 4, 2024 | $28,801 | $47,986 | |
| 3 | July 5, 2024 | $22,200 | $70,186 | Isaac's second runaway game. Gives 33 correct responses, the season high for regular season in Season 40. Isaac also gave 17 correct responses in Double Jeopardy! and achieved a batting average of .569, both records for Season 40 (including postseason games). |
| 4 | July 8, 2024 | $30,400 | $100,586 | Isaac's third runaway game. Gave 18 correct responses in the Jeopardy! round, the highest during all of Season 40. |
| 5 | July 9, 2024 | $19,601 | $120,187 | This game had the longest score change announcement of season 40, with a total of 40 seconds. |
| 6 | July 10, 2024 | $21,201 | $141,388 | |
| 7 | July 11, 2024 | $20,000 | $161,388 | Isaac's fourth runaway game. |
| 8 | July 12, 2024 | $34,001 | $195,389 | Isaac's highest single-game winnings. |
| 9 | July 15, 2024 | $20,001 | $215,390 | |
| 10 | July 16, 2024 | $1,300 | $218,390 | Lost to Jay Fisher, who went on a 3-game winning streak. |
Tournament of Champions[]
Isaac was seeded a bye to the semifinals along with Adriana Harmeyer and Drew Basile among the top three seeded players in the tournament.
In the exhibition game, Isaac faced off against Adriana Harmeyer and Drew Basile. Throughout the first two rounds of the game, Isaac came up with 26/30 correct questions. Everybody got Final Jeopardy! correct, and Isaac finished in 2nd with a total of $21,600. The winner was Drew Basile, who picked up two daily doubles to win with a total of $38,400. Adriana finished last with an impressive 3rd place total of $20,800.
In the second semifinal game, Isaac faced off against Mark Fitzpatrick and Amy Hummel. He came up with 28/31 correct questions (including 0/2 Daily Doubles). He was the only player who got Final Jeopardy! correct, and after a come-from-behind win, he advanced to the finals. Mark and Amy took home $10,000.
In the Finals (which lasted five games), he faced Neilesh Vinjamuri and Adriana Harmeyer, gave 90/108 correct responses (including 3/4 Daily Doubles). He and Neilesh got 3/5 Final correct and earned a $75,000 prize, bringing his career Jeopardy! winnings to $293,390.
| Game | Air Date | Final score | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| EX | January 24, 2025 (TuneIn) February 14, 2025 (TV) |
$21,600 | Fell short of Drew Basile to finish in 2nd place. |
| SF | February 5, 2025 | $17,600 | Isaac's only come-from-behind win in this tournament. |
| F1 | February 7, 2025 | $4,799 | Lost to Adriana Harmeyer, who was tied with Neilesh Vinjamuri for second going into Final Jeopardy! |
| F2 | February 10, 2025 | $37,400 | Highest non-winning score of Season 41. Lost to Neilesh Vinjamuri. |
| F3 | February 11, 2025 | $1,300 | Isaac's first sub-$10,000 Coryat score. Lost to Neilesh Vinjamuri. |
| F4 | February 12, 2025 | $27,601 | Isaac wins his first and only game of the ToC finals. |
| F5 | February 13, 2025 | $15,500 | Lost to Neilesh Vinjamuri, who won the Tournament of Champions and advanced to Jeopardy! Masters. For finishing as the first runner-up of the Tournament of Champions, Isaac received $75,000, and a spot in Jeopardy! Masters. |
Jeopardy! Masters[]
Isaac was invited to the 2025 Jeopardy! Masters as a Tournament of Champions finalist.
He played in Game 1 of the 2nd Knockout Episode against fellow Tournament of Finalists Neilesh Vinjamuri and Adriana Harmeyer. Throughout the first two rounds, he came up with 20/23 correct responses (including 2/2 Daily Doubles). Nobody got Final correct after Neilesh crossed out the correct response. He earned 3 match points for finishing first in a lock game.
He played in Game 2 of the 2nd Knockout Episode against other Knockout winners Yogesh Raut and Roger Craig. Throughout the first two rounds, he came up with 10/15 correct responses. He earned 0 match points in this game, after he and Yogesh got the Final Clue incorrect. However, he had already secured a position in the quarterfinals.
He advanced to the quarterfinals along with Yogesh Raut, Roger Craig, Juveria Zaheer, Matt Amodio and Victoria Groce. Brad Rutter, Adriana Harmeyer and Neilesh Vinjamuri received $15,000.
He played in Game 2 of the 1st Quarterfinal Episode against Juveria Zaheer and Matt Amodio. Throughout the first two rounds, he came up with 10/13 correct responses. He and Juveria got Final incorrect. He earned 0 match points in this game, and fell to 6th place on the Jeopardy! Masters Quarterfinal leaderboard.
He played in Game 2 of the 2nd Quarterfinal Episode against Juveria Zaheer and Roger Craig. Throughout the first two rounds, he came up with 13/15 correct responses. He and Juveria got Final Jeopardy! correct. Isaac came from behind to earn 3 match points for the night.
He played in Game 1 of the final Quarterfinal Episode against Yogesh Raut and Victoria Groce. Throughout the first two rounds, he came up with 8/9 correct response. He finished the match without any match points, after being the only player who failed to respond correctly in Final Jeopardy! His total points stands at 6 match points.
He pulled into a tie with Matt Amodio, who also finished with 6 match points. He secured a position in the 2025 Jeopardy! Masters semifinals via first tiebreaker (# of games won, 2-1). Joining him in the semifinals were Victoria Groce, Yogesh Raut and Juveria Zaheer. Roger Craig received $50,000 and Matt Amodio received $75,000.
He played in Game 2 of the first Semifinal Episode against Yogesh Raut and Victoria Groce. Throughout the first two rounds, he came up with 11/15 correct responses (including 1/2 Daily Doubles) but finished the match in 3rd place after he and Yogesh got FJ! wrong. He earned 0 match points for that game, and sits in 3rd place in the Jeopardy! Masters semifinals leaderboard.
He played in both games of the second semifinal episode. In game 1, he faced off against against Juveria Zaheer and Victoria Groce. Throughout the first two rounds, he came up with 7/9 correct responses. He finished the match with 1,300 points. He earned 0 match points, despite he and Juveria getting Final Jeopardy! correct. In game two, he faced off against Juveria Zaheer and Yogesh Raut. Throughout the first two rounds, he came up with 10/15 correct responses. Everyone got Final Jeopardy correct. He earned no match points.
The three finalists were Victoria Groce, Yogesh Raut and Juveria Zaheer. Hirsch was eliminated before the finals, and is rewarded $100,000, and an invitation to the 2026 Jeopardy! Invitational Tournament.Jeopardy! Invitational Tournament[]
Hirsch was invited to the 2026 Jeopardy! Invitational Tournament as the 2025 Jeopardy! Masters 4th place finisher.
Common with Other Jeopardy! Champions[]
Buzzy Cohen[]
- Both are from the same region.
- Both won nine games in a row, and when they left, both successors went on a winning streak.
Ben Chan[]
- Both are nine-game winning streak champions.
- Both began their run on Wednesday and exited on Tuesday.
- Both finished 2nd in the ToC finals.
Matt Amodio[]
- Both were seeded into the semifinals of their Tournament of Champions.
- Both participated in a Jeopardy! Masters tournament and made it to the semifinals.
- Both lost their final game in their regular run to someone who participated in a Jeopardy Tournament. The difference was Isaac had one challenger in a different tournament and Matt had two challengers in two different tournaments.
- Both finished runner-up in a Tournament.
Personal life[]
Isaac is the son of Steve Hirsch. In 2025, he mentioned on air that he was planning on using some of his winnings to buy an engagement ring for his longtime girlfriend, Victoria Gould. They announced their engagement in January of 2026.
Trivia[]
- Isaac's father Steve appeared on Jeopardy! on October 28, 1985, losing to 1986 ToC quarterfinalist Mark Leinwand, who won his third game while he was on a 4-game winning streak.[1]
- Isaac made a YouTube video called "How Are You Even Supposed to Prepare for Jeopardy, Anyway?". Drew Goins, Dan Puma, and Nik Oldershaw were thanked for their assistance in writing the video with Isaac.[2]