Despite the fact that Jeopardy! has had a lot of drama and controversy in recent months, Matt Amodio‘s tenure as host breathed new life into the syndicated game program. As fans and critics voiced their dissatisfaction with the show’s hosting situation, Amodio glided to triumphs akin to James Holzhauer’s, racking up high numbers on his route to over $1 million in winnings.
However, after suffering in the Double Jeopardy round, Amodio’s record run on Jeopardy! came to an end on Monday when the Ph. D student from New England lost to a newbie. Amodio’s 38-game winning streak has had many of the same characteristics of previous mega-champions: jumping out to enormous leads early, striking on Daily Doubles to extend that advantage, and making Final Jeopardy a non-factor because they couldn’t be caught.
However, after suffering in the Double Jeopardy round, Amodio’s record run on Jeopardy! came to an end on Monday, when the Ph. D student from New England lost to a newbie. Amodio’s 38-game winning streak has contained many of the same characteristics of previous mega-champions: jumping out to enormous leads early, striking on Daily Doubles to extend that advantage, and making Final Jeopardy a non-factor because they couldn’t be caught.
But on Monday’s episode, newcomers Jonathan and Jessica made life on stage much tougher for Amodio than he’d seen in recent weeks. Though he had his usual lead after the Jeopardy round, Jonathan found both Daily Doubles back-to-back (getting all three on the day). And though he got the first one wrong and lost $2,000, he took the lead with the third Daily Double and didn’t look back.AC
Amodio placed in last place ($10,600) in Final Jeopardy, compared to Jonathan’s $14,600 and Jessica’s $14,400. Jonathan really bet everything and got it correct, doubling his total and dethroning Matt as the new Jeopardy! winner, despite the fact that he needed both contestants to get the question wrong.
Amodio’s wins total $1,518,601, which places him third all-time. His 38-day win total is second only to Ken Jennings in the show’s history.
