Harrison Whitaker Goes To 11 - And Confirms The Return Of Peak Jeopardy

 

Now is as good time to write this article as any. During most of the last years I was reaching the conclusion that the era of what I have referred to as Peak Jeopardy had, you know, peaked. This didn't so much as disappoint me as something I considered inevitable.

During the first two full seasons of the post Alex Trebek era Jeopardy was played with some of the greatest champions to ever play the game. It was not just the rise of no less than seven super-champions in the space of little more than a year and a half – nearly as many as had been around since the elimination of the five game limit at the start of Season 20 – but how many other just as memorable champions we were getting who didn't quite meet the metric but were at their level. I speak of Andrew He and Sam Buttrey during the 2021-2022 season, Troy Meyer and Ben Chan during the 2022-2023 season and at least half a dozen others I could name. 

However at a certain point I knew the good times had to end. Some would argue that may have happened during the endless postseason of Season 40 but as bad as that was much of that was due to circumstances that weren't entirely the producers to control. The bigger problem was that I knew how rare super-champions were and that at a certain point they were going to become less frequent and possibly disappear, perhaps for a couple of more years, maybe longer.

When Adriana Harmeyer had her 15 game run in June of 2024 it seemed my fears were unwarranted but during Season 41 they seemed to be confirmed. In large part this was because Jeopardy was basically being the show long-time fans remember and love it for being: difficult Final Jeopardys that were triple stumpers, much lower paydays, and more competitive matches throughout the season. For those who might have only started watching Jeopardy when Matt Amodio or Amy Schneider came along, this had to be a huge letdown. For those of us who can trace our memory back to when dollar figures were once $100-$500 in the Jeopardy round and $200-$1000 in Double Jeopardy (of which I'm one and I imagine there are many others) it's how the show works. It was always difficult to win five games; it's far harder to win 15 or 20 no matter how easier James Holzhauer and Cris Panullo made it look the past few years.

And indeed as Season 41 progressed I had every reason to believe Peak Jeopardy was over and that Jeopardy had resumed equilibrium. Much of my writing during the last season might sound like I was trying to defend the lack of big payouts and super-champions when they were just trying to get so many contemporary viewers to accept that this was how the show usually played. It didn't help that so much of last season really did seem to be doing must to test the patience of even long time fans with increasingly difficult clues that led to lower payouts for even the best players, the most successful player for much of the upcoming champions setting a dubious record (sorry Laura Faddah) and of course that endless period last June when the show broke a record it didn't know it had of most consecutive one-day champions. Even I found that one exhausting to live through. I wasn't sure how much goodwill Jeopardy had frittered away by last July.

Now I think there's an excellent chance that the show has gotten it all back. Because just before the Fourth Of July Scott Riccardi won the first of sixteen consecutive games to end Season 41 on a glorious note. When Jonathan Hugendubler defeated him on the final day of last season surprising viewers – and himself –  it made sure that the 2026 Tournament of Champions would have a super-champion in it for the tenth straight time since 2014.

Paolo Pasco's impressive 7-game streak showed us that Jeopardy was back on track as well as so many huge paydays going into November. And now as the eligibility period for the 2027 Tournament of Champions begins, we have the first super-champion who will be part of it in Harrison Whitaker who today managed to officially reach elite status when he won his eleventh consecutive game.

As I wrote his first victory came when he defeated Allegra Kuney exactly two weeks ago who we will see in just a few months' time (and is no doubt counting her blessings that she won't be facing Harrison among her opposition) Today he became the nineteenth player in Jeopardy history to win his eleventh game, the tenth to do so since Matt Amodio in the last four years.

As has been my pattern for since Cris Panullo ended his run back at the end of 2022 it is now time to look and see just where Harrison ranks among this particular squad of elites when they 'went to eleven' leaving out as always James Holzhauer for obvious reasons. Keep in mind that Arthur and Jonathan's run ended the following day.

 

Ken Jennings: $376,158

David Madden: $269,101

Arthur Chu, $297,200

Julia Collins: $231,310

Matt Jackson: $339,411

Seth Wilson: $245,002

Austin Rogers: $394,700

Jason Zuffranieri: $332,243

Matt Amodio: $368,600

Jonathan Fisher: $246,100

Amy Schneider: $421,200

Mattea Roach: $244,882

Ryan Long: $209,300

Cris Panullo: $356,702

Ray Lalonde:  $311,500

Adriana Harmeyer: $258,700

Scott Riccardi: $281, 299

Harrison Whitaker: $309,000

 

So after eleven games Harrison is clearly better than the last two super-champions at this point in their run, far better than Mattea Roach and Ryan Long were at a similar point and definitely much better than Julia Collins. It's not quite as fair to compare them to Jonathan Fisher and Seth Wilson but he's basically running dead even with Ray Lalonde and  slightly ahead of Arthur Chu (even though his streak ended the next day). He's also a bit better than David Madden. In fact as of this writing he's running better than Ryan Long did in his entire run. That's impressive even though he still has a long way to go to catch so many of those on the list when it comes to total wins.

But compared to many during Alex Trebek's run he's not at their level. I speak not just of the hallowed names of Jennings and Panullo but Matt Amodio and Amy Schneider.  And while he's doing relatively well compared to Matt Jackson and Jason Zuffranieri, both of them did much better in the games that followed. The same, I should say, is true of Scott and Mattea going forward as well: Scott managed a $50,000 and a $40,000 payday in his 14^th and 15^th wins and Mattea had some bigger paydays in their future.

To be sure Harrison has managed to get eight of his eleven victories so far in runaway victories which is impressive. But after managing to get his first six Final Jeopardys correct he's gotten four out of the last five final Jeopardys incorrect. Indeed in what turned out to be his eighth win he genuinely thought his run was over and said farewell in Final Jeopardy. (It turned out to be another triple stumper.) And last night it was a good thing he had a runaway victory because his nearest competitor got Final Jeopardy correct and he didn't. (The same was true today but his lead was far bigger than yesterday so it was irrelevant). The first six wins of his run were incredible but his dominance has been slipping during the last week and there's been more luck involved as much as skill in the last five games.

He's also been starting to struggle on Daily Doubles, another sign of problems. In his tenth win he got both Daily Doubles in Double Jeopardy incorrect and only a late run gave him a runaway. Today he did better but his last Daily Double cost him $6000 and again he was only safe by a huge lead in Final Jeopardy. That's worked for him so far but that may be another problem down the road.

A critical difference between him and Scott and Adriana so far. In none of his wins to this point has he needed to come from behind. Adriana had to do that quite a few times in her original run and Scott needed to do that in one of his early victories. Harrison's  had some close games to be sure – his victory over Allegra Kuney was the prime example -  but he hasn't been nearly as dominant as many of the super-champions ahead of him (Holzhauer obviously included) or even some of the players he's passed in wins so far. Ben Chan was far more dominant in all nine of his victories than Harrison has been in most of his and it took him until his ninth victory to win as much money as Larissa Kelly and Roger Craig did in six.

Make no mistake; Harrison Whitaker is an exceptional player,  same as everyone else on the list above. But I'm not convinced that he'll be able to make it to the top ten in consecutive wins on this list. That takes a lot more skill and luck and at this point the luck part is playing a slightly bigger role then skill (which he's got, no question.)

What is more important I think is that with Harrison's run coming so soon after another super-champion and with another excellent player sandwiched between them that Jeopardy is back in the groove it had between 2021 to the summer of 2023. How long Harrison's run will continue remains to be seen but his presence will be more than enough to keep viewers riveted until the postseason begins in just a few weeks. It's one thing to count the days until the Tournament of Champions as we did so much of the last two years; players like Harrison remind us why we anticipate the Tournament of Champions in the first place.