He is the third-highest earner of all time in regular-season play, second-most successful in consecutive games won and fourth-biggest all-time winner. His averaged $39,963 per victory, second highest all-time to James Holzhauer at $76,944. During season 37, He qualified as the Second seed in the next Tournament of Champions.
Regular Play[]
His winning streak came during an interregnum in the show's hosting position after longtime host Alex Trebek died in November 2020, during which the show was helmed by guest hosts. His streak spanned episodes hosted by Robin Roberts, LeVar Burton, David Faber, Joe Buck, Mike Richards and Mayim Bialik. As Jeopardy! films 5 episodes per filming day, he filmed his 39 episodes on 9 separate days (3 on his first day, 1 on his final day). Also, if include Ken Jennings, the host of ToC, you have met a total of 10 hosts during his appearance.
| Game No. | Air Date | Final score | Cumulative Winnings | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | July 21, 2021 | $40,400 | $40,400 | Matt's first game without a runaway. He defeats 3-day champion Josh Saak. Later, Josh wins the first Champions Wildcard and advances to the following ToC in 2024. |
| 2 | July 22, 2021 | $41,000 | $81,400 | He is the sixth champion to break $80,000 in just 2 games[1]. |
| 3 | July 23, 2021 | $20,000 | $101,400 | Last show with Robin Roberts as host. |
| 4 | July 26, 2021 | $21,000 | $122,400 | First show with Levar Burton as host and Matt's second game without a runaway. Fellow competitor Patrick Pearce finished the Double Jeopardy round with -$7,400, which is the lowest score ever recorded; however, adjusted for doubled dollar values, the pre-doubled -$5,100 set in Season 1 by Joan Kantor is the current record. |
| 5 | July 27, 2021 | $25,400 | $147,800 | Matt's third game without a runaway. |
| 6 | July 28, 2021 | $47,000 | $194,800 | |
| 7 | July 29, 2021 | $74,000 | $268,800 | He achieved a Coryat score of $39,000 in this game, which is the second-highest Coryat of all time; ironically, the record of $39,200 was set by Ken Jennings in his seventh game. |
| 8 | July 30, 2021 | $22,400 | $291,200 | Last show with Levar Burton as host. |
| 9 | August 2, 2021 | $19,200 | $310,400 | First show with David Faber as host. |
| 10 | August 3, 2021 | $52,000 | $362,400 | |
| 11 | August 4, 2021 | $6,200 | $368,600 | He broke the record for most money lost on a single Final Jeopardy wager, with $37,000; this surpasses both the adjusted record (pre-doubled $15,000 by Jack Lechner in 12/2/88) and the unadjusted record ($22,200 by Alex Lamb earlier in 7/13/21). |
| 12 | August 5, 2021 | $26,000 | $394,600 | |
| 13 | August 6, 2021 | $35,600 | $430,200 | Last game with David Faber as host |
| 14 | August 9, 2021 | $10,400 | $440,600 | First game with Joe Buck as host and first game in which he crossed out the correct response in Final, record for second money lost on a single Final Jeopardy wager, with $34,000. |
| 15 | August 10, 2021 | $35,000 | $475,600 | |
| 16 | August 11, 2021 | $29,600 | $505,200 | Second game in which he crossed out the correct response in Final. |
| 17 | August 12, 2021 | $42,400 | $547,600 | Matt's fourth game without a runaway and surpassed Jason Zuffraneiri for regular-season earnings and took the third-place spot in that regard. |
| 18 | August 13, 2021 | $27,201 | $574,801 | Season 37 finale. He finished Double Jeopardy with exactly twice as much money as challenger Rowan Ward; she bet everything and missed Final, and he bet $1 and got it right. His run would go on a month-long hiatus for two weeks of “Around The World With Alex” episodes as well as reruns of the 2021 Tournament of Champions, hosted by Buzzy Cohen. After that, Rowan Ward earned ToC qualifications. |
| 19 | September 13, 2021 | $67,800 | $642,601 | Season 38 premiere. First show with Mike Richards as host. He tied Jason Zuffranieri and David Madden for fourth longest winning streak. $67,800 is also believed to be a one-day record for a season premiere. |
| 20 | September 14, 2021 | $36,200 | $678,801 | |
| 21 | September 15, 2021 | $61,200 | $740,001 | He passed Julia Collins for third longest winning streak; additionally, he was the only the third contestant to pass $60,000 three times. |
| 22 | September 16, 2021 | $35,400 | $775,401 | He started Double Jeopardy with -$600 and ended it with $30,400; this is the highest amount of money amassed in Double Jeopardy after entering the round with a negative total and win regular game after being below $0 going into DJ! since Zach Newkirk on june 9, 2020 (30th all-time since october 2004)[2]. Passed David Madden for fourth-highest earnings (including tournament play). |
| 23 | September 17, 2021 | $50,400 | $825,801 | Last show with Mike Richards as host. |
| 24 | September 20, 2021 | $31,200 | $857,001 | First game with Mayim Bialik as host, Matt's fifth game without a runaway and the first non-runaway game where he was actually in danger of losing as he did not get Final Jeopardy correct; luckily, second-place challenger Tracy Pitzel did not either. |
| 25 | September 21, 2021 | $36,200 | $893,201 | He broke the record for most money lost on a Daily Double ($15,000) since October 4, 2004. Along with Season 6 5-day champion Steve Berman, he co-owns the record for highest loss on a single Daily Double, and a pre-doubled $7,500 loss in Steve’s 3rd game.[3] |
| 26 | September 22, 2021 | $36,200 | $929,401 | |
| 27 | September 23, 2021 | $25,800 | $955,201 | Third game in which he crossed out the correct response in Final. |
| 28 | September 24, 2021 | $48,800 | $1,004,001 | He is the third contestant to reach $1,000,000 in regular play, and fourth overall (including tournaments) and achieved the record faster than Ken Jennings (30 games) but slower than James Holzhauer (14 games). |
| 29 | September 27, 2021 | $33,000 | $1,037,001 | |
| 30 | September 28, 2021 | $70,400 | $1,107,401 | He is only the second contestant to surpass $70,000 twice. |
| 31 | September 29, 2021 | $50,600 | $1,158,001 | |
| 32 | September 30, 2021 | $54,400 | $1,212,401 | Final Jeopardy! question was the creation of the Hippocrene spring. He correctly gave the Greek divine horse Pegasus as the answer. Host Mayim Bialik also noted that the "Hippo" in Hippocrene means "horse." Coincidentally, the $400 Animals clue from the series premiere on September 10, 1984 was "Close relative of the pig, though its name means 'river horse'", to which the correct response was "What is hippopotamus?" |
| 33 | October 1, 2021 | $55,400 | $1,267,801 | He moved into #10 on American game show winnings list and passed James Holzhauer for second-longest winning streak in regular play. |
| 34 | October 4, 2021 | $83,000 | $1,350,801 | He is currently the highest one-day total of anybody not named James Holzhauer. |
| 35 | October 5, 2021 | $50,000 | $1,400,801 | |
| 36 | October 6, 2021 | $16,600 | $1,417,401 | |
| 37 | October 7, 2021 | $50,400 | $1,467,801 | The sweater he wore this game was originally owned by James Weldon, who he defeated in his 12th game. |
| 38 | October 8, 2021 | $50,800 | $1,518,601 | Last game with Mike Richards as executive producer & writer. |
| 39 | October 11, 2021 | $5,600 | $1,519,601 | First game with Michael Davies as executive producer. Matt's sixth game without a runaway. Jonathan Fisher ends his streak and goes on to win ten more games. He trailed Fisher and another challenger Jessica Stephens heading into Final Jeopardy!, the first time he trailed a challenger at that point of the game. It was the 10th game in which he failed to give a correct response in Final Jeopardy. Later, Jessica Stephens joined the ToC by winning Week 1 of the SCT. |
End of the Streak[]
He was defeated by Jonathan Fisher on October 11, 2021. He had a lead at the end of the Jeopardy round ($9,800 vs $4,000 for Jonathan) despite not finding the Daily Double. However, he gave four incorrect responses in Double Jeopardy (worth a total of $6,000) and did not find either daily double[4], giving him a net gain of only $800 for that round and putting him in third place going into Final Jeopardy. He did not answer correctly to Final Jeopardy either, the tenth time he failed to do so, and only the second instance in which it was not a Triple Stumper. He finished in third place with $5,600 and was given the $1,000 consolation prize.
Jonathan went on to win 11 games and $246,100, making him the highest-winning and longest streaking giant killer (term given to contestants who defeat ultrachampions, or people that have won 10 or more games) taking both records away from Emma Boettcher (3 games, $98,002). Jonathan’s run also made history, but in a different way - Matt and Jonathan are the only back-to-back super champions in Jeopardy history. Both players would go on to play in the 2022 Tournament of Champions. In addition, Jessica Stephens later won the 2022 Second Chance and qualified for ToC, setting a unique record of all participants in one contest advancing to ToC.
Tournament of Champions[]
Appearing in the ToC to be held from October 31, 2022, according to the changed format, he received a bye ticket and advanced to the semifinals. With Jessica Stephens, the winner of the SCT Week 1, joining the ToC, there could be a rematch between the last opponents[5]. In addition, Rowan also obtained the qualification to participate in the ToC by winning the SCT, and a record was written that three people who competed with him participated in the ToC together[6].
This time, before the semifinals, they play a friendly match with Amy and Mattea, who advanced to the byes. It is quite unusual, and you can see how the production team treats them. The winner of this match went to Mattea, who finished poorly 18-11 (included FJ!) in the match. However, there is a possibility that even if it was just for practice.
Matt is the first and only person whose run contained the runs of three other separate Tournament of Champions challengers - Rowan Ward from his 18th game, and Jessica Stephens and Jonathan Fisher from his last regular game. However, the rematch was ultimately canceled as all three players mentioned failed to advance to the semifinals.
In the semifinals of the 2022 Tournament of Champions, he faced John Focht and Sam Buttrey in his semifinal. Matt only found the first Daily Double in Double Jeopardy, while Sam found the other two, got both correct, and bet substantially enough to lead Matt into Final Jeopardy, with John trailing the both of them. All three players got Final correct, and both opponents wagered to cover Matt, who himself wagered nothing in hopes of a Triple Stumper. Sam went on to the finals of the Tournament, while He collected the $10,000 consolation prize with John.
He did not make it to the finals, S37 became a season in which not a single player could advance to the finals, just like S21 and S28. Also, after Dan Melia, who appeared in S13-14, the jinx continued that a champion who has won five or more consecutive wins over two seasons cannot win the ToC.
Jeopardy! Masters[]
The 2022 ToC finalists, top 3, and James will participate in the Masters Tournament scheduled to be held in Primetime in 2023. In particular, the system that producer Michael Davies showed was weak, but it is noteworthy whether he will break the jinx this time and avenge his defeat in the ToC semi-finals against Sam.
Although he showed a sluggish appearance in the beginning, he got on the rise by winning the match against James, and then advanced to the semifinals with 9 points and 3rd place.
In the semi-finals, there was a risk of elimination due to not getting points in the previous two games, but at the end, he played a big role and earned 3 points to advance to the final. By taking third place behind James and Mattea, he completely broke the bad relationship in the Davies system. Additionally, together with these two, he earned the right to advance to the next Masters.Strategy[]
He is noted for his strategy of consistently prefacing his responses with "What's" instead of adjusting the interrogative pronoun to fit the response. He chose this method because Jeopardy! rules allow any question containing the correct response to be used; by not having to adjust the pronoun, he has one less thing to think about when formulating a response, potentially speeding response time. He has credited Wikipedia's format for allowing him to meander through various topics in a random but logical progression and learn content quickly.
Additional Page[]
References[]
- ↑ Collaborators on this record include Larissa Kelly, Roger Craig, Mark Runsvold, Chris Fleitas, and James Holzhauer. All of them, except for Chris, have had three or more wins in a row.
- ↑ one years and three months later, the challenger who beat the super champion (Cris Pannullo) to become the new champion (Andy Tirrell) went through the same process as his 22 games.
- ↑ Expanding to tournaments, Alex Jacob's $15,600 in the March 1, 2019 All-Star Game is the highest DD miss.
- ↑ This is the only episode he hasn't found any DDs so far.
- ↑ If that happens, it will be the 4th case of rematch between regular game and ToC in history, and the case of 3 people competing again at the same time will be the second case following S26.
- ↑ However, as all three of them were eliminated from the quarterfinal, we could not see a rematch with him. but another rematch was held in this ToC (Amy Schneider vs Andrew He)