In a best-of-seven match, James Holzhauer, Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter will compete in Jeopardy! The Greatest Of All Time. The winner will take home $1 million in prize money.
The show begins broadcasting January 7 on ABC beginning at 8 p.m. ET each night, marking the first time Jeopardy! has been broadcast in primetime in nearly 30 years.
Ahead of the tournament, here are some of the greatest moments in the history of the game show.
First Tiebreaker
In 2018, Jeopardy! saw its first tiebreaker in a regular game. The tiebreaker was first introduced in previous tournaments, but it had not been used for a regular Jeopardy game until 2018.
During the episode, all three contests answered the Final Jeopardy question wrong, but two contestants, Laura McLean and Sarah Norris would end up finishing with the same amount of $6,799. Instead of having two winners, host Alex Trebek asked them their tiebreaker question. McLean buzzed in first with the correct answer, making her the winner of the tiebreaker and the episode.
Jeopardy! Battle of the Decades
In 2013, Jeopardy! began its Battle of the Decades tournament, organized to celebrate the shows 30th season. The tournament included 15 contestants from each decade, the 1980’s, the 1990’s and the 2000’s, all competing for a grand prize of $1,000,000.
The final round of the tournament included two of the show’s most famous participants, Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter. Rutter was crowned the winner, taking home the $1,000,000 grand prize and his fourth overall Jeopardy! tournament win.
Ken Jennings wins 74 consecutive games
In 2004, Jeopardy! contestant Ken Jennings won 74 straight games, the longest streak in the show’s history. During his win streak, Jennings earned over $2.5 million, which at the time was the highest-earning in regular-season play. Jennings’ streak ended on November 30, 2004, when he was defeated by contestant Nancy Zerg.
Brad Rutter becomes highest-earning contestant on Jeopardy! ever
Rutter first appeared on Jeopardy! in 2000 and earned over $50,000 in a five-day streak. He was invited back to the show in 2001 for the Tournament of Champions and won an additional $100,000. Then in 2002, he was invited back to the Million Dollar Masters Tournament and won a prize of $1 million, making him the highest-earning contestant on the show.
To date, Rutter has appeared on a number of other tournaments, increasing his win total to $4,688,436, which is the most in the show’s history.
Jeopardy IBM Challenge
In 2011, Watson, a supercomputer created by IBM, participated in a Jeopardy! tournament against the show’s legendary champions, Jennings and Rutter.
Despite being pitted against the show’s top contestants, Watson was able to win the first-place prize of $1 million, with Jennings in second ($300,000) and Rutter in third ($200,000). IBM then donated 100 percent of the computer’s winnings to charities, with Jennings and Rutter doing the same with half of their winnings.
James Holzhauer breaks single-game winnings record
On April 17, 2019, Holzhauer set the bar for single-game winnings at $131,127. During his 32 consecutive-game win streak, Holzhauer also set records for the second and third highest totals in single-game winnings. Holzhauer’s win streak became the second-longest of all time, while he also became the third-ranked contestant for all-time earnings with $2,712,216.
