The Las Vegas bettor survived to fight another day.
He held off Adam Levin, 46, of Ashland, Massachusetts, in a tight match that came down to Final Jeopardy! in Monday’s episode.
James Holzhauer’s 18th appearance in his historic run on “Jeopardy!” came down to actually only $18.
Holzhauer finished with $54,017, just ahead of Levin, who racked up $53,999.
According to Andy Saunders, who runs the website Jeopardy Fan, Levin’s $53,999 was the “highest-ever regular-play non-winning score in the history of the show.”
But Levin still only received the $2,000 runner-up award.
Holzhauer extended his streak and pushed his total winnings to $1,329,604.
He trails only past champion Ken Jennings on the show’s all-time regular-play winnings list. Jennings won more than $2.5 million during a 74-game winning streak in 2004. Holzhauer is on pace to surpass Jennings in 34 games.
Holzhauer has been correct on 17 of his 18 Final Jeopardy! attempts.
“I did everything I could possibly do and the best I could, and I was a few dollars short, but I wouldn’t trade it,” Levin told The Boston Globe. “I had a huge smile on my face for as much of the time [as] I could because I was living the dream.”
This is becoming appointment television.
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