‘Jeopardy!’: Allegra Kuney Dishes on Battle With Harrison Whitaker, Ken Jennings & More

Four-time Jeopardy! champion Allegra Kuney might have been defeated by 14-time super champion Harrison Whitaker, but she shared that it was an honor to play against him. She also dished on host Ken Jennings, her upcoming Tournament of Champions appearance, and more.

Kuney, a former TV Guide Magazine and TV Insider intern, played her first game on November 5. She found all three Daily Doubles, which put her in first place, and ended with a total of $26,600.

For her second game, she broke a record by making the biggest wager on a correct response in Season 41 with $17,001. Kuney, from New Brunswick, New Jersey, ended the game with $38,401, advancing to game number three.

The Ph.D candidate, who is taking up Media Studies at Rutgers University, was called a “strong presence” by Ken Jennings in game three. She won that game with $20,000.

By game four, the pressure was on as she could now qualify for the Tournament of Champions. Luckily, Kuney came out with the win with a small total of $7,599 and a spot in the 2026 ToC.

Game five was where it turned around for Kuney. She had the correct Final Jeopardy response, but it wasn’t enough to beat Harrison Whitaker. She took home roughly $95,00 in winnings, including the $3,000 second-place prize for game five. Whitaker went on to win $373,999.

Kuney talked with TVI about her time on the game show and how she prepared for the Tournament of Champions, as well as her love for Jeopardy!. Here’s what she had to say.

How long have you been a fan of Jeopardy! for?

Oh, man, since I was a kid, we would always watch it every night or most nights. And then, I kind of lapsed when I moved out of my parents’ house, but I keep coming back to it.

Is that what made you want to audition? Because you watched it as a kid a lot?

Yeah, there’s no one like catalyst moment, but it’s more, this increasing sense of like, “Oh, I bet I can do that” or feeling like wanting to prove myself, especially since I know a lot of people who’d already been on the show, and I was like, “I bet I’m as smart as them.

How many times did you audition before you made it on?

I think I took the test three or four times, but this was the first time that I got to the auditioning phase.

Once you got the call knowing that you made it on, how did you prep for your games?

Probably not as much as I should have. There are definitely people who go at it very systematically and comprehensively. And I tried making some flashcards. I tried to address my weak points, which are sports and vice presidents and stuff like that. But, I didn’t get very far in the flash card making. So it was really a lot of last-minute cramming and just looking at facts. My dad did buy me a World Almanac, and I remember the week before, I was flipping through the World Almanac, being like a “list of the highest mountains,” “a list of this,” “look at all these lists.” But that was more of a desperate last measure. I really just got to trust that you know, the things you know.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by City University of New York (@cunyedu)

Did you ever think going in that you would win four games?

No, my goal was to win one game. I really wanted to at least win one, just to have a level of confidence that I felt. So, everything after that was just totally unexpected, just icing on the cake.

You competed against Harrison Whittaker in your last game who went on the have a 14 game streak. What was it like competing against him?

That was my second day of filming. I was so exhausted, I hadn’t slept well the night before. I mean, not to say I would have beat him if I was better prepared, or whatever that was ever happening, but it became clear, like, “Oh, my God, this is a serious serious guy,” and I’m just proud of myself that I was able to kind of put up a fight, looking at how that game went versus how some of his later games went. I was really proud of myself in terms of how I measured up against him. And I think that it was a good way to go out. It’s not like I made some horrible mistake in the end. I feel like it was a really well-played game for all three of us. And so I’m proud that that’s how it ended.

How hard was it to keep the secret that you won four games from everyone you know?

It’s pretty hard. If somebody pokes me a little bit, I will tell them everything. I’m not good at keeping secrets. But I mean, just the fact that just being able to tell people that I was on a big thing, just to be on Jeopardy!. But that’s like, most of it. The winning is just the extra.

Did you have a watch party for any of your games?

I did, yeah, I had one on the first night. I had people over, and that was really exciting. And then I had one at my parents’ house. And then the last game was just my roommate and I, and a bottle of champagne. I was like, ” Come be my emotional support,” and my roommate didn’t know what was gonna happen, but, she could figure it out by that.

You won $95,000 roughly. Do you have any special plans for your winninngs?

Not really. I’m in grad school right now, doing my PhD. So, that’s gonna be my funding for the next year.

Did you get to talk to Ken Jennings at all? What was he like?

Yeah, I feel like he really is exactly how he appears on TV, pretty much. We didn’t have any deep heart-to-hearts, but he genuinely seems interested in the contestants, anecdotes, and what we have to say. And it’s very impressive too because I remember him from when he was a contestant, and he’s a real show business professional now. And so it’s very impressive. And it was very cool to get to meet him and see him in person.

You qualified for the Tournament of Champions now that you won four games. Are you excited or nervous for that?

I’m excited. We’ve already filmed it two weeks ago. So I guess I’m excited for the world to see that. And it was a great time filming it.

Did you prepare any differently for that compared to regular Jeopardy!?

I had so little time. It was only a month between my original filming and going back for the tournament. So, I wasn’t optimistic that I could make a great difference within that. My prep was kind of looking at some of the things that I got wrong on my original episodes to make sure I didn’t get the same thing wrong twice, because that would be embarrassing. But other than that, I just kind of had to trust the universe.

I was the last one in before the cut off, so there are people who have been able to study or prepare for a whole year, even more than a year, from when their original episodes aired, and so, I felt like I was a little bit at a disadvantage, but I just had to trust that I knew what I was doing.

There were a lot of people like Scott Ricardi. He was a multi-game champion, Laura Fana, etc. Was there anybody that you were very nervous to compete against in the TOC?

Oh, man, yeah. I mean, definitely Scott, Laura, Paolo Pasco, who’s just a force of nature. But mostly, I was excited to meet everybody. You see people on TV, and then you get to meet them in person. That’s super exciting. These games never go the way you think they’re gonna go. So, I think that there was, looking at the people, like anybody could have been a really tough competition. Anybody could have destroyed me. I thought so. It’s up to chance and a lot of other things.

Is there anything that you would change?

Oh man. I mean, hindsight is 2020, and I look back at all the things you got wrong, and you’re like, “Oh man, I definitely should have spent more time studying that.” But no, I don’t think that would change anything. The most important thing that everybody says, even the people who lose right off the gate, they just say, “It’s so much fun, and it’s such an honor to just get to be there.” That is really most of it. So no, I don’t have anything that I regret at all.

Do you get recognized from being on Jeopardy!, or is your life still pretty much the same?

No, not really, the only place they might recognize is in LA, like at a museum once. But no, I don’t think college students watch Jeopardy! very much, or maybe they do. But no, I haven’t really been recognized, so I’m still very much a civilian.

Would you come back for any other tournaments besides TOC see if you were invited?

Yeah, oh, my God, it’s so much fun. Any time they want me, they just have to call me, and I’ll get on the next flight. I would love to be back for any kind of future tournament situation they may think up.

Jeopardy!, Weekdays, check local listings, stream next day on Hulu and Peacock