Another week, another modern Jeopardy champion is making headlines . The 2010s has seen a Jeopardy resurgence in relevance; boasting multiple super champs that have made big waves in both winnings and unusual personalities.
In early 2014, the “villainous” Arthur Chu annoyed watchers with his bouncing around the board and perceived arrogance. Less than a month after Chu’s run, Julia Collins would win 20 consecutive shows becoming a top-three player all-time and the winningest female of all time.
BOOM! Along Comes Matt Jackson
With eleven straight wins and winnings just over $339,000, Jackson has burst onto the Jeopardy record books with his creepy smile and awkward “BOOM!” celebrations.
Oh, hi there Matt.
The 23-year old won another game Friday night, so Jackson and his slow-developing smile tied Chu for fourth all-time in total wins and leapfrogged the infamous Arthur Chu in total winnings. Chu was last year’s fascinating Jeopardy contestant with an unorthodox approach to the game. And with every “Daily Double”, Jackson pushes down more big names on the top ten list of winningest (standard) Jeopardy players.
Jeopardy Winnings All-Time*
The game has changed with James Holzhauer; the holder of several of the biggest single-day winnings and the perfect Jeopardy game. His insane run has Jeopardy-heads wondering not if, but when the 34-year old will catch Ken Jennings making the runs by Chu, Julia Collins, Jackson and Austin Rogers seem trivial. Pun intended.
| Rank | Contestant | Most Winnings |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ken Jennings | $ 2,520,700 |
| 2 | James Holzhauer | $ 2,464,216 |
| 3 | Jason Zuffranieri | $532,496 |
| 4 | Dave Madden | $ 430,400 |
| 5 | Julia Collins | $ 429,100 |
| 6 | Matt Jackson | $ 411,612 |
| 7 | $ 411,000 | |
| 8 | Arthur Chu | $ 298,200 |
| 9 | Seth Wilson | $ 265,002** |
| 10 | Tom Nissley | $ 235,405 |
| 11 | Roger Craig | $ 230,200 |
| 12 | Larissa Kelly | $ 223,597 |
| 13 | Jason Keller | $ 213,900 |
| 14 | Joon Pahk | $ 199,000 |
| 15 | Tom Walsh | $ 184,900 |
| 16 | Ben Ingram | $ 176,534 |
*last updated 0601/2019 10AM EST
To see all of James Holzhauer’s wins and single-day winnings ranked by highest to lowest, go to this page.
* For the most updated list of winners, winnings and winning streaks, go . List above only includes “standard” Jeopardy episodes and does not include Tournament of Champions or Teen Jeopardy!. For Tournament winners, go here. ** updated for Seth Wilson (10/03/2016) and Austin Rogers (10/09/2017)
Since then Seth Wilson in 2016 and Austin Rogers in 2017 have both added their respective accomplishments to Jeopardy’s all-time list for both winnings and wins. Not only is Matt Jackson in the top five in all-time winnings, but he’s also top-five with most Jeopardy! wins.
All-Time Jeopardy Champions List (by Wins)
| Rank | Contestant | Wins | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ken Jennings | 74 wins | 2004 |
| 2 | James Holzhauer | 32 wins | 2019 |
| 3 | Julia Collins | 20 wins | 2014 |
| 4 | Jason Zuffranieri | 19 wins | 2019 |
| 4 | Dave Madden | 19 wins | 2005 |
| 6 | Matt Jackson | 13 wins | 2015 |
| 7 | Austin Rogers | 12 wins | 2017 |
| 7 | Seth Wilson | 12 wins | 2016 |
| 9 | Arthur Chu | 11 wins | 2014 |
| 10 | Jason Keller | 9 wins | 2011 |
| 10 | Dan Pawson | 9 wins | 2007-08 |
| 12 | Ben Ingram | 8 wins | 2013 |
| 12 | Tom Nissley | 8 wins | 2010 |
| 12 | Tom Kavanaugh | 8 wins | 2005-06 |
| 15 | Jason Keller | 7 wins | 2011 |
| 15 | Joon Pahk | 7 wins | 2011 |
| 15 | Justin Bernbach | 7 wins | 2009 |
| 15 | Tom Walsh | 7 wins | 2004 |
| 15 | Stephanie Jass | 7 wins | 2012 |
| 15 | Keith Whitener | 7 wins | 2012 |
For the most updated list of Jeopardy winners, winnings and winning streaks, go . And also see .
After dispensing of Chu, he has a ways to go before moving up to the third place spot. At this point, Matt Jackson is approximately $140,000 behind Julia Collins, whom became Jeopardy’s winningest woman right after Chu made headlines last year. Jackson will likely need to win at least another 5 times to start sniffing Julia’s solid lock on third place all-time. To take second place, he’ll need just $1,301 to usurp the legendary Dave Madden.
To get to first place, he’ll have to hunker down and win another 60-70 times to start making Ken Jennings sweat (and we all know that Jennings doesn’t sweat, being a robot and all), who holds the record at $2.5 million and 74 total wins.
Related Jeopardy Posts: , , Wait, is Austin Rogers Gay?, , , , , Jeopardy’s All-Time Winners! The 15 Contestants with the Highest Single Day Winnings on Jeopardy!
