On July 3rd 2024 Isaac Hirsch
defeated Kelly Proulx to win his first Jeopardy game in a narrow runaway. He
would go on to win eight more before being unseated by Jay Fisher on a Final
Jeopardy no one could get correct, finishing with 9 wins and $215,390.
This total would earn him a bye into the
semifinals of the 2025 Tournament of Champions where he would ultimately fall
short of defeating Nilesh Vinjamuri and eventually an invitation to that year's
Jeopardy Masters where he surprised even himself by finishing fourth.
Exactly one year to the day Scott Riccardi
would manage to defeat Jason Singer. Jason had the previous day become the
first player in an unprecedented fifteen consecutive games to win two games.
Scott would win quite a bit more eventually reaching super-champion status with
16 victories and $455,000 before being shockingly defeated by Jonathan
Hugendubler in a come from behind victory.
Scott's total of wins and money won was by
far the most of any participant in this past year's Tournament of Champions but
he would be thrashed, along with TJ Fisher in three consecutive runaways by
Paolo Pasco this past February.
And on July 2nd 2026 Caleb Gruen
won his first game on Jeopardy and went on to win the next eight. He was attempting to win his tenth game almost
two years to the day Isaac had failed to
win his and the same day one year later Scott
would win his tenth.
Such synchronicity is nearly unheard of it
forty two seasons of Jeopardy; it's the kind of story you couldn't believe if
it were fiction. But there were
differences. After Isaac's streak had ended, no one would come close to winning
as many games until Scott came along. By contrast since Scott's departure it
has seemed like a super-champions has emerged every month. Indeed Caleb's
streak began when he defeated Richard Nguyen who just two days earlier had
beaten Adam Remsen after 12 consecutive victories which had given him a bye
into the semi-finals of the 2027 Tournament of Champions – something that he
had earned by winning two more games then Tristan Williams who had become the
first to win exactly ten one month earlier.
Now Caleb was treading on Adam's tail and would have to win at least
another four games to guarantee himself the bye Adam thought he'd earned.
Of course Caleb was not thinking that
today. He had to concentrate on whether he could manage to win his tenth game.
No small issue. To be sure Caleb had managed six runaway victories in his nine
appearances but Monday's and yesterday's matches had left him with very little
margin for error. On Monday's game he'd only found one of the Daily Doubles in
Double Jeopardy and he had to come on strong in that round to narrowly put the
game out of reach by the end of the round. On Tuesday he got off to a big lead early
in the Jeopardy round, then lost it all on the Daily Double. In Double Jeopardy
he was actually in third for a while but then managed to get going and thanks
to finding the last Daily Double late in the round he managed a narrow runaway
again – and this time he needed to because his nearest opponent Patience Bruce
got Final Jeopardy right and he didn't. (Expect to see Patience as a likely
Second Chance Tournament player this year.) In both games he was getting more
and more incorrect answers – six incorrect on Monday's, five on Tuesday's.
There was no question when Caleb was good,
he was very, very good. On Thursday he managed to win $60,000, the highest
amount won by any player this season, a mark not even Jamie Ding had reached
during his incredible 31 game run. But aside from that win he had a weakness:
Final Jeopardy. He had won his first three games despite never responding
correctly on Final Jeopardy in what had been three consecutive triple stumpers.
He'd gotten in right on what was his fourth win when he absolutely needed to
and four straight runaways.
That was the question going into today's match
as he faced off against Marisa Rizzuli and Amando Marin. Did Caleb have what it
took to succeed where Isaac failed or would his streak end? The answer was… he absolutely
could.
It took a bit for Caleb to get to that
p0int. While he had $8600 at the end of the Jeopardy round Armando was putting
up a challenge. But three clues into Double Jeopardy it was clear is was going
to be Caleb's day.
After responding correctly on the first
clue he found the Daily Double on the next one in NOTORIOUS. He chose to wager
$4000:
Robert Stroud, who became a self-taught
ornithologist during his years in solitary, is best known by this nickname. He just needed a moment: "What is
Birdman of Alcatraz?
Then he found the Daily Double on his next
pick in POEMS. This time he bet $5000:
Milton's poem this man 'Agonistes', meaning
enduring a struggle, describes him as 'eyeless in Gaza at the mill with
slaves'.
He knew it was Samson. Just like that he
had $19,800. It was all over but the shouting after that. He had another
dominant performance: 31 correct clues and only 2 mistake and finished with
another impressive total at the end of Double Jeopardy. $38,000.
The only suspense left was how big was his
payday going to be as he officially became a super-champion.
The category was 20th CENTURY
HISTORY. "The U.N. Conference of April 25, 1945 opened with a speech that said
this man 'gave his life while trying to perpetuate these high ideals." Caleb
knew the correct answer: "Who is FDR? (He'd died just two weeks earlier.
The wager was $22,067. Caleb had surpassed his own single day record with
$60,067 and achieved super-champion status with a very impressive 10 day total
of $300,567.
As Ken remarked Season 42 was already a
season of super-champions. And Caleb was already impressive in his own way. In
just ten games he'd won nearly as much as Adam Remsen had in twelve and it took
Scott Riccardi, his super-champion twin twelve games to get where Caleb was in
ten. And while even if his streak
continues to the end of the season he won't be anywhere close to Jamie Ding in
total wins, in one way he's better than Jamie. By winning $60,000 or more in
two games he's accomplished something that only a handful of super-champions
did: Jennings himself, James Holzahauer, Matt Amodio, Amy Schneider, Austin
Rogers and Jason Zuffranieri are the only super champions who've managed that
feat.
With Caleb's victory Season 42 of Jeopardy
has officially equaled Season 38 for the number of super-champions who played
during the length of the season. And with seven players already who've won six
games or more it has also tied it with producing the most players who won that
many in a season. (I'll publish the official list in my summation of Season 42
at the end of next week.) The 2027 Tournament of Champions is going to be a
doozy and we're still three months away from the end of the eligibility period.
At this point the only real problem Season
42 is facing is that with so little time elapsing between Jeopardy champions
there may not be enough players to fill out the Jeopardy Wild Card Tournament
this year. But honestly that's a problem few Jeopardy fans would consider a
real complaint.
I'll be back at the end of the season to summarize
what has been an incredible year of Peak Jeopardy.
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