On Tuesday, January 14, James Holzhauer, Ken Jennings, and Brad Rutter continued their quest to determine who is the greatest Jeopardy! champion of all time.
The winner gets to hoist a championship trophy and add another one million dollars in prize money. The losing players each leave with $250,000 for their participation. Would the Day 4 results bring Ken the big championship win, or would one of the other players stop his quest?
Game 1 recap
The first round of questions had fun categories named after ABC television shows such as The Good Doctor, The Bachelor, and Modern Family. Ken uncovered the Daily Double under a $1,000 clue and bet all of his 3,800. He guessed correctly to double his score to 7,600 and gain a bigger lead over James and Brad.
At the end of the round, it was Ken in a commanding lead with 12,800. James was second with 4,400, followed by Brad with 2,400 points.
It’s impossible to overstate how incredible it is to get watch these three compete against each other and possibly for the last time. #Jeopardy #JeopardyGOAT pic.twitter.com/XgSGTufKqV
— Bob Byers (@bbyersesq) January 15, 2020
In Double Jeopardy!, Brad uncovered the first Daily Double and bet all 4,800. He guessed wrong to fall to zero. Ken found the other Daily DOuble and went all-in with his 15,200. He got the Arts response right to move to 30,400.
James came on strong toward the end of the round to get somewhat closer to Ken’s lead. At the close of Double Jeopardy!, it was Ken with 32,800, followed by James with 22,800 points. Brad was still on the positive side with 2,000 points.
#JeopardyGOAT continues TONIGHT! But first, let us take a selfie. pic.twitter.com/Yrc4PlTcgA
— ABC (@ABCNetwork) January 14, 2020
The Final Jeopardy! category was It’s All Greece to Me. The clue was, “This area of Greece, home to Pan, is synonymous with a rural paradise; It’s a setting for Virgil’s shepherd poems The Eclogues.”
Brad guessed Bucolia, but that was wrong, so it cost him all 2,000 points. That dropped him to zero. James had Arcadia, which was correct, and he had bet 11,381 to move to 34,181. Ken had Arcadia as well and bet it all to win the first game with 65,600 points.
Game 2 recap
As they returned for Game 2, Alex asked that they remove all three players’ scores from the boards. James joked that Brad’s score, zero, was still there after they did. With the savagery over, it was time to begin the second game of Day 4.
If you thought daily doubles were hard on Brad Rutter, listen to what James Holzhauer says #JeopardyGOAT pic.twitter.com/HGwNAStKov
— Jeopardy! Sports (@JeopardySports) January 15, 2020
One of the Jeopardy! categories featured actor Ryan Reynolds to help present clues about the greatest Canadians of all time — in addition to himself and Alex. Another category gave equations to come up with Roman numerals that matched up with initials for the person’s name that was the answer.
Ken uncovered a Daily Double and risked all of his 1,000. Ken missed the answer which was Courtney Love, dropping him to zero. However, he bounced right back to 1,000 when he got the next question right.
Don’t force your kids to learn to code, just make them do quiz bowl. https://t.co/lJLMv5taVU
— Ken Jennings (@KenJennings) January 15, 2020
Still, James went on a streak of correct answers to gain the lead in the first round. As the round ended it was 8,200 for James, 5,600 for Ken, and 1,000 for Brad.
After the commercial break, it was time for the Double Jeopardy! round. Ken uncovered the first Daily Double and bet 5,000 of his 8,800 points. He guessed correctly to move to 13,800.
James reached the second Daily Double and bet all 20,200 points. He guessed the country of Chad and was right to move to 40,400 for the commanding lead.
At the end of Double Jeopardy!, James led with 44,000. Ken was in second place with 23,000, and Brad had just 1,400. Basically, Brad had no chance to claim a win on Day 4, leaving a battle between his fellow competitors.
It has to be Shakespeare for the final Final Jeopardy on #JeopardyGOAT. It's what separates real trivia people from the phonies.
— Deke Zucker (@Barstool_Quotes) January 15, 2020
The Final Jeopardy! category was Shakespeare’s Tragedies. The clue was “He has 272 speeches, the most of any non-title character in a Shakespeare tragedy.”
Brad wrote down, “You’re the best Alex!” as his guess and risked zero. That meant Brad finished with 1,400 for the day.
Ken guessed “Who is Iago” and bet zero to stay at 23,000 for the second game. Added to his first score of 65,600, that brought him to 88,600.
James guessed Who is Horatio and bet all of his points. His final score wasn’t enough to top the GOAT.
Never any doubt, way to go @KenJennings !!! ? #Jeopardy #JeopardyGOAT pic.twitter.com/8aVS3N5yqs
— ℂ???? ℂ????? (@CH1CKE) January 15, 2020
Host Alex Trebek proudly awarded Ken Jennings the Greatest of All Time trophy and raised his arm in victory. Ken also wins one million dollars in prize money. James and Brad each leave with $250,000 in what was a fantastic Greatest of All Time tournament between Jeopardy! legends!