“Jeopardy!” is not messing around when it comes to the leaked video that prematurely revealed that James Holzhauer’s reign on the game show would come to an end on Monday’s episode.
Executive producer Harry Friedman told the Washington Post in an interview published Tuesday that while he “can’t say at this point” who released the footage that featured Holzhauer being bested by Emma Boettcher after a 32-game winning streak, the “Jeopardy!” producers “think we know where and who and how” and plan to take “very, very, very appropriate” against the responsible party.
“Somebody alerted us that they had seen it on YouTube. By the time we saw it, it already had 2,000 views,” Friedman told the Post of the leak, which first surfaced online Sunday and spread quickly via social media and media outlets.
“I feel bad for the viewers. It’s not fair,” he added. “I’m not sure what’s gained by doing something like that, other than some malicious intent. It doesn’t really benefit anybody.”
Holzhauer was taken down by Boettcher, a University of Chicago librarian, who won Monday’s game by almost $22,000 in the Final Jeopardy round. The professional sports gambler racked up a total of $2,462,216 in winnings over his 33-game run (the last game of which he did not win, obviously), just $58,485 shy of breaking Ken Jennings’ all-time regular season record, which he set across his 74-game run in 2004.
Despite the fact Holzhauer’s loss was ultimately spoiled, Friedman told the Post the “Jeopardy!” producers “were pleased and surprised that nothing leaked out before this past weekend.”
“I think that speaks for the respect that people in studio audience have for the show,” he said. “That part of it was very much appreciated.”
Sony, the studio behind “Jeopardy!,” did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.