This is Jeopardy! - Failures of the Superchampions, Part 6: Jason Zuffranieri's Triumphs and Tribulations

 

Jason Zuffranieri is one of the greatest players in the history of Jeopardy. The reason he has never gotten the same recognition of the super-champions who came before him is because, like so many of us, he had terrible timing. In Jason’s case, it couldn’t have been worse.

On June 3 2019 Emma Boettcher made history when she defeated James Holzhauer. One more victory would have officially made James the greatest player in Jeopardy history as in just 33 games he had already won $2,462,216.

On that historic date James needed to win $58,000 to officially surpass Ken for the most money won in Jeopardy history. Considering that he had won over $100,000 six times to that point, even a modest day would have done the trick. But on that day Emma Boettcher did what no other player in Jeopardy history had been able to do: finish ahead of him at the end of Double Jeopardy. That would lead to her remarkable triumph as James had to settle for second best.

I didn’t know it at the time but after Emma’s run ended three days later the producers officially closed off eligibility for the 2019 Tournament of Champions. Those consequences would be critical at the end of the season for three players and one in particular.

In July of 2019 two players had remarkable runs. Ryan Bilger won four games and $107,049. On his fifth appearance he would be defeated by Sam Kavanaugh who went on to win $156,202 in five appearances before being defeated. With the exception of James Holzhauer and 7-game winner Josh Hill,  Sam had won more money in his appearance than anyone who had already qualified for the Tournament of Champions – including Kyle Jones who had won $145,703 in seven games. Ryan, meanwhile, had won more money in four games than quite a few other competitors won in five.

But the real story on July 19^th when Jason Zuffranieri, a math teacher from Albuquerque won $26,600. He was still there at the end of the season having won six games and $137,300 – not bad, but not as good as Sam had done in five games. None of us watching at home could have imagined what was to come when Season 36 began.

On the first day of Season 36 Jason ran away with the game. He did so every game the first week of the season, winning $58,400 on Friday. He’d now entered the hollowed ground of eleven games won and had already won $332,243.

His runaway streak stopped on September 17^th after seven consecutive runaway victories (stretching back his sixth win on the last day of Season 35) A tough final Jeopardy that no one got right led to his smallest payday so far that season with $5300 but it was enough.

The next day he got right back on the horse and had another runaway victory, his fourteenth win which put him at just under $400,000. Two more runaways put him at $437,096 – third on the all-time list when it came to money won passing David Madden and Julia Collins. On his eighteenth victory he officially crossed the threshold of half a million dollars, more money than all Ken Jennings and James Holzhauer had ever won. The next day he managed his sixth straight runaway victory and tied David Madden for fourth place with 19 wins.

By that point it was clear how excellent Jason was. After nineteen wins, he’d won more than a hundred thousand dollars that David Madden had in his nineteen games or Julia Collins had in twenty. It was not quite on par with Ken Jennings (James Holzhauer had obliterated any possible comparison) but it was pretty close.

Then in his twentieth appearance he faced off against Gabe Brison-Trezise and Christine Ryan. He was as dominant as he usually was – 25 correct responses and not a single mistake – but he had not been able to find a single Daily Double. For that reason, he finished with a commanding lead over his opponents but not quite a runaway: he had $21,000 to Gabe’s $11,400 and Christine $9000.

The Final Jeopardy category was WORLD LANDMARKS. “’The Eighth Wonder”, by composer Alan John & librettist Dennis Watkins, is about this building that opened in 1973.”

Christine wrote down: “what is the Sears Tower?” That was wrong. It cost her $8900. Gabe’s response was revealed next. He wrote down: “What is the Sydney Opera House?” That was correct. He doubled his score. It came down to Jason. He wrote down: “What is the Prado?” His wager of $1500 was irrelevant. Gabe was the new champion

When Alex said: “What a great run Jason had”, he was in typical fashion, understating the case. Jason Zuffranieri had won 19 games and $532,496. Thirteen of his games were runaway victories. David Madden, by contrast, only had 11 runaway victories in his nineteen wins and Julia Collins managed just twelve in 20 wins. Both had won considerably less money that Jason during that period.

And while the recently completed All-Star Games had done much to shift the leaderboard when it came to who was where in money won Jason Zuffranieri was already in the top ten of money won before he had even made an appearance in the Tournament of Champions. Under any other circumstances he should have received media coverage worthy of that fact and he almost certainly would have had his original appearance come just six months earlier.

But America was still reeling from the seismic event that was James Holzhauer. This was perfectly understandable considering millions (myself among them) had spent his run wondering if ‘the Gambler had broken Jeopardy”. By the standards of everything that had come before on Jeopardy Holzhauer had erupted like an Everest in Kansas. Anyone who was even a casual fan of Jeopardy knew how remarkable Jason Zuffranieri’s run had been. Holzhauer’s, like Ken Jennings, had transcended it in a way that has never truly  been seen before and only occasionally has been seen since.

To put it in a baseball metaphor Ken Jennings had seemed to be a mix of Babe Ruth’s dominance and Gehrig’s longevity. Holzhauer had played in a way that reminded us of McGwire and Bonds – if there was a performance enhancing drug that affected reflexes and intellect. By contrast Jason Zuffranieri dominating performance seemed pedestrian even though he was playing at a level better than almost anyone else who’d played the game to that point.

Things might have been very different had Jason been eligible to compete in the Tournament of Champions that was scheduled for that November. But what I wasn’t aware of until the following day was that Jason had missed the eligibility cut-off and would not be eligible to compete until the next one. By the time that happened the world was such a radically different place that the fact that Alex Trebek had succumbed to his ailment in November of 2020 was insignificant. The fact that Jeopardy was essentially playing to an empty studio and that it didn’t have a host also were minor details.

It's safe to say that by May of 2021 all but the most devoted Jeopardy fans could very well have forgotten the accomplishments of Jason. By the standards of the outside world or even Hollywood, the crises Jeopardy was facing seemed relatively minor. But after Alex Trebek passed away the show was still filming in an empty studio, there was no clear idea who the new host would be and it was not uncommon for champions to not return because they contracted Covid.

Death had been stalking the Tournament of Champions for awhile the last few years; after Cindy Stowell’s passing in 2016, Larry Martin who’d won the 2018 Teachers Tournament died of pancreatic cancer in January of 2019 before he could participate in the Tournament of Champions. And in what seemed to be the sickest joke of all Brayden Smith, the last five day champion Alex Trebek ever saw play, died of complications of surgery in February of 2021, a month after his final episode aired. The last episode Alex Trebek hosted before his passing ended up airing three days after Brayden was defeated.

Jeopardy was in such an uncertain state when the 2021 Tournament of Champions took place that the fact that it was being emceed by Buzzy Cohen – the winner of the 2017 Tournament of Champions – itself barely seemed odd. The show had been going through a series of guest hosts from Katie Couric to Dr. Oz to Aaron Rogers and very few of them were thought of favorably. It might have helped had there been great champions and there were some during this early period. Brian Chang had won 7 games and $163, 904 and Zach Newkirk had won six. But even these moment were tainted by the aura of Covid.

Zach had won four games before Covid shut filming down in Hollywood. He would not be able to return until they were lifted in January of 2021 when he competed against Brian. The memories associated with this no doubt tainted the records of both men.

No doubt fans were hoping the Tournament of Champions would do something to restore order to the chaos surrounding the show. I was no different. One of the few things I’d been clinging to during this period was the Tournament of Champions and the return of Jason. And as a result I’d forgotten everything I’d learned about the performance of super-champions during this period.

Much of it had to do with Jason’s dominance which was still very clear but while the field did not have a champion at his level to consider them unworthy was something that I – more understandably this time around – had neglected to consider. Among them was how  another trend was developing before the previous season had abruptly ended.

When Julia Collins had her incredible run in 2014, it wasn’t noticed that she had shattered the all-time number of wins for a female contestant. It had been set in October of 2012 when Stephanie Jass became the first woman to win seven games. Numerous female contestants had won six games in the following five seasons. Then in the space of three months, three different women managed to win eight games: Jennifer Quail, who won $228,800; Karen Farrell, who won $159,603 and MacKenzie Jones who won $204, 800. Combined with the performances of Ryan Bilger and Sam Kavanaugh it was a strong field and Jason found that out when he appeared in the first quarterfinal match.

His opponents were Ryan and Sarah Jett Rayburn who’d qualified with four wins in April of 2020 just before the season came to an end. The dominant player in this match was in fact Ryan who started the Jeopardy round with a near sweep of QUOTABLE MOVIES OF THE ‘80s and ‘90S and was never seriously threatened for the lead from that point on. Jason was good – he managed sixteen correct responses and only made two errors the whole game – but Ryan was on fire with 28 and correct responses on two Daily Doubles. At the end of Double Jeopardy he had $32,400 and Ryan was in a distant third with $9400. His only hope was a wild card berth.

The Final Jeopardy category was ANCIENT GREEKS. “Plutarch quotes this man who sentenced many to death: ‘Small ones deserve that, and I have no higher for the greater crimes.” Jason wrote down the correct response: “Who is Draco?” (As Buzzy reminded us: “The adjective Draconian comes from that Greek lawmaker who was known for his harsh penalties.” As Jason had too, he bet everything. He was helped that Sarah responded incorrect and had also wagered everything. He had to wait and see if his score of $18,800 would hold up. And it did: not until the last quarterfinal did Vernonica Vichit-Vadakan managed to surpass it for a high score.

In the semi-final he faced off against Jennifer Quail and Nibir Sarma, winner of the 2020 College Championship who’d also managed to earn a wild card berth. The Jeopardy round was evenly matched between all three players and Jason maintained a narrow lead throughout. He finished with $4800 to Jennifer’s $4200 and Nibir’s $3400.

Jason increased his lead early in Double Jeopardy and held it for much of the round. But Jennifer was close on his heels throughout. Late in the round he found the last Daily Double in THE ANCIENTS SPEAK. At the time he had $16,800 to Jennifer’s $14,200. No doubt hoping to put some distance between them in time for Final Jeopardy he wagered $5000:

“Augustus Caesar said he ‘found Rome a city of bricks and left it a city of’ this, which was much nicer.” Jason struggled before guessing: “What is gold?” It was actually marble. He dropped into second place with $11,800. Despite his best efforts he couldn’t close the gap and finished with $13,400 to Jennifer’s $15,000. Still it wasn’t over by a long shot.

The Final Jeopardy category was CLASSICAL COMPOSERS. “Monsieur Crescendo and Signor Vaccarimini (“Mr. Racket”) were derisive nicknames for this composer whose last opera dates from 1829.”

Jason wrote down the correct response: “Who is Rossini?” (Buzzy: “Critics felt the composer of the ‘William Tell Overture’ relied to much on crescendos and other vocal artifice.” Jason added $7000 to his total which put him at $20,400. It was on Jennifer. She also wrote down Rossini. And she wagered everything but a dollar. Jennifer had earned her spot in the finals and Jason went home with $10,000.

But even had Jason gone on to triumph in that Tournament of Champions it is likely he would have been soon forgotten anyway. Because as the world knows before the end of the 2020-2021 season the world would be introduced to the extraordinary Matt Amodio who by the end of the season had won eighteen consecutive games and just under $550,000 – and as we all saw, was just getting started.

What followed would be the rise of the super-champion and by May of 2021 Jason had dropped from being tied for fourth in number of games won all the way to eighth place and the triumphs of Amodio, Amy Schneider and Mattea Roach made Jason look like a piker. The fact that it took Mattea 22 days to win as much as Jason did in 19 was little noted nor well-remembered even by the most devoted of Jeopardy fans who were understandably astounded as to how super-champions were coming out of the woodwork. Considering that in little more than a calendar year seven players managed to win eleven games or more –  as many as their had been in the last five years of the Alex Trebek era  - led millions to redefine what a super-champion truly was.

In the epilogue to this piece I will give a brief recounting of how the players I’ve listed in the previous articles have performed during the times they have been invited back to Jeopardy after their original run.