[How Emma Boettcher beat James Holzhauer on “Jeopardy!”]
As he racked up wins, Holzhauer, a 34-year-old professional sports bettor who lives in Las Vegas, gained a celebrity status that, besides Jennings, few game show contestants ever reach. Clark County, Nev., declared a “James Holzhauer Day,” and he was given a ceremonial key to the Las Vegas Strip. A minor-league baseball team in upstate New York offered him a chance to work as its general manager (for a day). His success rubbed off on the show itself, which drew its best household ratings in 14 years, according to Nielsen.
Though he eventually lost, Holzhauer’s statistics will be tough to beat. During his streak he won an average of $77,000 per game, more than double Jennings’s rate. When he buzzed in, he got the right answer (that is, question) 97 percent of the time, according to the show. He almost always entered Final Jeopardy so far ahead that no one could catch him.
[Read more about Holzhauer’s childhood as a slacker with a gift for math.]
Trebek, who has continued to moderate the show despite living with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer, said in a television interview in May that Holzhauer appeared to have no weaknesses as a player. It helped that Holzhauer was a beast with the buzzer, having practiced at home with a mechanical pencil.
Despite a workmanlike efficiency and a practiced smile that invited comparisons to cyborgs, Holzhauer allowed some charm to break through. He often calculated his Final Jeopardy wager so his total winnings for the game matched meaningful dates, like his 4-year-old daughter’s birthday. He also wrote greetings to his friends and family on his Final Jeopardy answer, a habit that other contestants picked up on; the show eventually began enforcing an existing rule prohibiting such messages.
Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/03/arts/television/james-holzhauer-jeopardy.html?emc=rss&partner=rss
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