‘Jeopardy!’ Player Almost Breaks Record Set By James Holzhauer

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Whoa! One Jeopardy! contestant had such a dominant game that he almost beat James Holzhauer‘s two-day record. After two games, Holzhauer accumulated $82,606. Find out how close the player came on March 9.

James Denison, from Alexandria, Virginia, had a one-day total of $36,199. He returned for game two on Monday with determination.

The college professor and museum curator played against Katie Hoppenjans, from Atlanta, Georgia, and Jonathan Rosales, from Glendale, California, on March 9. Warning: This post contains spoilers for the March 9 episode of Jeopardy!. 

Hoppenjans, a luxury travel marketer, found the Daily Double on clue two. She had $800, but wagered the allotted $1,000. In “Facts About Poets,” the clue read, “In 1761 the Wheatley family bought a girl from this slave ship & named her after it; she became the 1st major African-American poet.” “Who was Phillis Wheatley?” she answered correctly, giving her $1,800.

The beginning of the round was a battle for first between Denison and Hoppenjans. However, Denison had the lead by the first 15 clues by $1,000.

By the end of the round, Denison maintained the lead, but not by much. He had $6,600 while Hoppenjans had $6,200. Rosales, a university fundraiser, had $1,400.

In Double Jeopardy, Denison found the first DD on clue six. He had the lead with $10,600 and wagered $6,800. In “Take Me To the River,” the clue was “This end-of-the-alphabet river begins in the central African plateau & drains an area of 500,000 square miles.” He answered quickly with “What is the Zambezi?” This gave him $17,400, compared to $7,400 for Hoppenjans.

He then found the final DD on clue eight. With $17,400 in his bank, he wagered $6,000 in “The Social Bookshelf.” The clue read, “Chapter 3 of ‘The Souls of Black Folk’ by W.E.B. DuBois is about the views of this educator & rival.” “Who is [Booker T.] Washington?” he answered skeptically. He was right and moved up to $23,400. Hoppenjans had $5,400.

Denison continued to dominate the round and ended with $31,000. Hoppenjans had $8,200. Rosales was in third place with $7,000.

The category for Final Jeopardy was “Reptiles.” The clue was “Studying a hormone in the venom of this reptile species that may allow it to eat infrequently led to the weight-loss drug Ozempic.” Only one of the game show contestants got it right.

Rosales’ response was “What is a Komodo dragon?” Since that was wrong, he dropped down to $3,300 after wagering $3,700. Hoopenjans’ answer was “What’s a viper?” She was also wrong and wagered $6,000, giving her $2,200. Denison had the correct response of “What is a Gila monster?” He wagered $14,599, bringing his total up to $45,599.

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“Wow,” host Ken Jennings said. Denison had a two-day total of $81,798, which was only $808 from tying Holzhauer. Holzhauer went on to win 32 games for a total of $2,462,216. Can Denison beat that? Find out on Tuesday for his third game.

“James is a monster! I mean this in the most complimentary way. Katie and Jonathan played well, but James ran away with the game,” a Reddit user said.

“Higher 2-day total than Matt Amodio btw,” another wrote. Amodio had $81,400 by his second game.

“Also way higher than Ken’s, and less than $1,000 behind the other James,” another commented.