“Jeopardy!” ratings are returning to earth after reaching record heights with James Holzhauer’s hot streak.
In the first full week following Holzhauer’s stunning loss earlier this month, the Alex Trebek-hosted game show slipped below “Family Feud” to second place among all syndicated programming, according to Nielsen.
The show’s 5.8 rating, according to Nielsen’s live-plus-same-day metric, is down 15% from the week prior and a far cry from the show’s 14-year peak of 8.3 back in May, when viewers were still tuning in to see if Holzhauer could maintain his winning streak.
With a 6.1 rating in the same frame, “Family Feud” took the number one spot, followed by “Jeopardy!” at number two, and “Judge Judy” in third with an 8.4.
Holzhauer cemented himself in the “Jeopardy!” record books, winning $2,462,216 over 32 games, setting several single-game winnings records along the way. Prior to his loss to Emma Boettcher in his last Final Jeopardy round, Holzhauer was just $58,485 shy of Ken Jennings’ record total of $2,520,700 over 74 games in 2004.
Holzhauer’s last game, despite having leaked online earlier in the day, drew a 10.1 rating overall and 2.2 among adults under 50, itself the best single episode of the show since Jennings’ run.