“Jeopardy! Greatest of All Time” champion Ken Jennings explained his winning strategy, just one day after taking home the top prize. Jennings beat highest single-game earnings record holder James Holzhauer and highest all-time earnings-holder Brad Rutter.
Jennings won the $1 million prize by betting $0 for his final wager and told “Good Morning America” on Wednesday that it was all part of the plan.
“There’s a little bit of math that goes into wagering on ‘Jeopardy!’ and generally what happens is the person in second should often make a very small wager,” he said. “You’re counting on the person in first to make a big wager so it doesn’t matter at that point. If they get it wrong they’re out, so it doesn’t matter what you wager.”
Jennings — who still holds the records for most consecutive games after winning and playing 74 in a row in 2004 — credited “GOAT” competitor Holzhauer and his long run in 2019 with changing how “Jeopardy!” is played these days.
He said, “It’s really just a credit to James how much he’s changed the game of ‘Jeopardy!’ We’re gonna have to play like him if we were gonna have any hope of containing it. That’s how smart and demoralizing his strategy is.”