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All fellow Jeopardy! fans, get ready.
This is the Tournament of Champions, and Alex Trebek is here to help us welcome back some familiar faces.
Joining from the winners' circle is none other than "Jeopardy! James" Holzhauer from Las Vegas—and though he's not playing for as much money these days, he's clearly back to win.
During his previous winning-streak on the show, Holzhauer won 32 games in a row, seemingly without breaking a sweat. But in his final game, Holzhauer went up against Emma Boettcher and lost in a surprising fashion.
Holzhauer placed an uncharacteristically low bet in Final Jeopardy. While his answer was correct, Boettcher's total came out higher, winning her the game.
This provoked a series of conspiracy theories about Holzhauer throwing the game. Holzhauer insisted this was not true and denied all allegations calling his final game on Jeopardy! anything other than a good, clean fight.
After a long hiatus from the show, Holzhauer is back and fans are thrilled.
We love #JeopardyJames ❤— Mel (@Mel) 1573171669.0
JAMES IS BACKKK!!!! #jeopardyjames— Dalton Lewis (@Dalton Lewis) 1573087842.0
I didn’t realize how much I missed James until 3 minutes ago. #Jeopardy #jeopardyjames— hayley shaw (@hayley shaw) 1573086828.0
"Jeopardy! James" played a little differently this time, though. He used to throw out ridiculously high numbers in every round, but this time he was much more conservative.
Early in the game, Holzhauer fooled Alex Trebek and fellow viewers into thinking he'd bet high for the Daily Double, but then did not.
Raise your hand if James tricked you, too. 🙋🙋♂️ #TournamentOfChampions https://t.co/qT0Hu8pbFK— Jeopardy! (@Jeopardy!) 1573101000.0
Then—with a huge lead at the start of Final Jeopardy—Holzhauer could have placed almost any bet and won. Holzhauer instead placed an uncharacteristically low bet of $326, still easily winning the game.
It should be noted Holzhauer stayed true to a "Jeopardy! James" tradition—basing his bets off of his loved ones' birth dates. $326 was for his nephew's birthday on March 26.
He won the game with $30,635, a small sum compared to the six games where he won more than $100,000 each, totaling more than 2.46 million dollars in winnings.
In true "Jeopardy! James" anticipatory fashion, Holzhauer knew some viewers would jump on his low final bet.
So he jumped on Twitter and beat them to the punch.
Time for another round of “why did James bet so small?” conspiracy theories— James Holzhauer (@James Holzhauer) 1573100348.0
People were ready with their responses.
@James_Holzhauer I’m still recovering from the “key to Las Vegas strip doesn’t actually unlock anything” bomb you dropped— Kevin (@Kevin) 1573101533.0
@James_Holzhauer Not at your small bet. But I’m puzzled why you can’t shout out to family & friends. 🤐. Those producers are NO fun.— Emily (@Emily) 1573100539.0
@James_Holzhauer https://t.co/nDfJGvCXLh— Jerold 🚃🚈🚍 (@Jerold 🚃🚈🚍) 1573100410.0
@James_Holzhauer He won so much money from before that he only uses gold bars as currency now. He forgot he was bet… https://t.co/GH7IaOHWpd— SHER.R.D (@SHER.R.D) 1573100785.0
@SHERRD4 @James_Holzhauer He was betting in dog money.— Lily Swan (@Lily Swan) 1573176757.0
@James_Holzhauer Was it aliens? I bet it was aliens.— Jon no H (@Jon no H) 1573100389.0
@JonJanke @James_Holzhauer https://t.co/gZ9aU23jlM— David Graham (@David Graham) 1573100471.0
"Jeopardy! James" advanced to the semi-finals in the Tournament.
Whether he'll face Emma Boettcher again hasn't yet been decided.
Play at home with the Jeopardy! Deluxe Edition, available here.
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