What is the most someone has won on jeopardy

Índice Show

10. Jason Zuffranieri ($532,496)
9. Mattea Roach ($560,983)
7. Larissa Kelly ($655,930)
6. David Madden ($763,733)
5. Amy Schneider ($1,382,800)
4. Matt Amodio ($1,518,601)
3. James Holzhauer ($2,962,216)
2. Ken Jennings ($4,370,700)
1. Brad Rutter ($4,938,436)
Honorable Mentions

'Jeopardy!' champ Matt Amodio exits with over $1.5 million in winnings

Matt Amodio put his "Jeopardy!" 38-game consecutive win streak on the line Monday night and entered the final round in last place.

Amy Schneider – who's won 17 consecutive games of Jeopardy! – is climbing the ladder of series champions.

She's now collected the fourth-highest winnings in regular season play with $687,400, behind legends Matt Amodio ($1,518,601), James Holzhauer ($2,462,216) and Ken Jennings ($2,520,700).

The engineering manager from Oakland, California, became the first openly transgender contestant to qualify for a spot in the next tournament of top winners after just five wins earlier this year. She's since opened up about the value of on-screen representation.

"I am so incredibly grateful," she said in a recent interview with San Francisco station KGO-TV. "Hopefully I can send a positive message to the nerdy trans girl who wants to be on the show too."

Schneider regularly talks about her gameplay on her Twitter account, @Jeopardamy.

"Post-game thoughts: -Not a lot of drama in this one, I have to say. Sorry if it wasn't very entertaining! But of course you never know how it will be going in..." she began a thread on Wednesday about her Jeopardy! game.

Aww: 'Jeopardy' contestant Amy Schneider wants to 'send a positive message to the nerdy trans girl'

Of the "Jeopardy!" contestant greats, Schneider said she'd like to beat James Holzhauer, who won 32 games in a row in 2019, nabbed a total of $2,962,216 in prize money and holds the show record for single-game winnings with $131,127.

Growing up in Ohio with parents who were "Jeopardy!" fans – and a mom who was a college professor – Schneider was instilled with a love for learning and the trivia show from a young age.

After she won her first 10 games, Schneider said in a statement that "it’s just so surprising. You know, I’m not going to pretend that I didn’t think I could do good. But this has just been so much better than what I thought I would do."

How it started: Amy Schneider extends 'Jeopardy!' winning streak to five

It takes a certain mind to be able to compete on Jeopardy!, but only the best of the best land in this winner’s circle. These are the highest-earning winners from the game show — and they’ve won millions.

Ken Jennings is one of the most well-known high rollers from the ABC series. The Washington-born author is actually the highest-earning American game show contestant of all time. In addition to winning $2,520,700 during his initial 74-show run on Jeopardy!, he nearly doubled that number in numerous special tournaments.

In 2005’s Jeopardy! Ultimate Tournament of Champions, Jennings pulled in $500,000 for second place, and in 2014, he won a $100,000 second-place prize in the Jeopardy! Battle of the Decades. He returned to the winner’s circle in 2020 when he scored the $1 million first-place prize in the Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time. Those are just a few of his biggest tournaments.

Jennings became a Jeopardy! consultant in 2020, and he started guest hosting in 2021 after Alex Trebek‘s death.

Later that year, Matt Amodio entered the winners circle with a 37-game winning streak. The Ph.D. student from New Haven, Connecticut, is second only to Jennings for number of consecutive wins.

“Ken’s always been the face of Jeopardy! to me, so when I think of ‘Jeopardy!’ I think of him,” Amodio said in a press release in October 2021. “To [be] right behind him is a surreal experience.”

Jennings was very supportive of his latest successor. “What a run!” he tweeted after the Yale student’s streak ended with his 38th game on the October 11, 2021, episode.

“Referring to #Jeopardy, ‘you are half the man Ken Jennings is’ is a great compliment,” Amodio replied via Twitter, singing his predecessor’s praises. “Referring to life in general, it’s an even greater one. Thanks for being you, Ken [heart emoji].”

Despite being one of Jeopardy!’s highest earners, Amodio revealed he doesn’t want to stop working as a researcher. “I still have no plans to spend a dime of my $1,518,601 winnings,” he wrote in an article for Newsweek days after his final episode aired. “I’m a frugal guy and I love having the opportunity to pack away a chunk of money should I need it in the future or to help out with kids.”

Amodio wasn’t the only history-making winner in 2021, though. Amy Schneider quickly became the sixth highest-earning contestant of all time on Jeopardy that December, and she out-earned all other female competitors with more than $700,000 in winnings.

Scroll down to see the highest-earning winners from Jeopardy! (including tournaments):

1 of 7

Mattea Roach

2 of 7

Brad Rutter

$4,938,436

Credit: Carol Kaelson/CBS Media Ventures

3 of 7

Ken Jennings

$4,370,700

Credit: Sony/Shutterstock

4 of 7

James Holzhauer

$2,962,216

Credit: KCR/Shutterstock

5 of 7

Matt Amodio

$1,518,601

Credit: YouTube

6 of 7

Amy Schneider

$1,382,800

Credit: Sony Pictures Television

7 of 7

David Madden

If you added up all the winnings in all the daily games and the various tournaments from the biggest winners of Jeopardy! of all-time, it totals an astounding $18,297,507. Even more astounding is that two-thirds of that total, $12,271,352, has been won by only three players, including the legend Ken Jennings and risk-taking phenom James Holzhauer. However, the player who has won the most in total winnings might not be the person you are expecting.

For years, there was a rule on Jeopardy! that everyone who became a 5-Day Champion would “retire” from the game, take his or her winnings, and step down as a champ. They would automatically be invited to the annual Tournament of Champions, but beyond that, their run would be over. That rule changed before the start of Season 20 in 2003. As a result, the winnings by single players have increased dramatically, with nine of the current top ten winning their cash after the rule change.

When looking at the top ten winners of all-time on Jeopardy!, including everything they won as a contestant on the standard game as well as in various tournaments over the years — like the Tournament of Champions and other one-off tournaments the show has conducted — there are some interesting numbers to unfold. The official Jeopardy! totals do not include consolation prizes, so those have been noted separately when applicable. Here are the winningest Jeopardy! contestants of all time.

(Image credit: Jeopardy)

10. Jason Zuffranieri ($532,496)

Jason Zuffanieri, a math teacher from Albuquerque, New Mexico, made his first appearance on Jeopardy! on July 19, 2019. He went on to win $532,496 in his 19 wins, tying 2005 champion David Madden for what was, at the time, fifth place in consecutive games won. In 2021 the former rocket scientist returned for the Tournament of Champions, which was hosted by another Jeopardy! alum — Buzzy Cohen — following the death of Alex Trebek, where he advanced to the semifinals as a wild card, falling in that round. When factoring in that $10,000 consolation prize, plus the $2,000 consolation from his original loss, Zuffranieri took home a total of $544,496.

(Image credit: Jeopardy!)

9. Mattea Roach ($560,983)

Mattea Roach is the youngest and most recent champion on this list (her run spanned April and May 2022), as the tutor from Toronto compiled $560,983 in her 23-game win streak, plus the $2,000 consolation prize from her loss. As well as becoming the winningest Canadian in the game show’s history — an honor that would make Alex Trebek proud — Roach also became one of three contestants to shoot their age, so to speak, and match their age in Jeopardy! victories. As of this writing, Roach has not yet competed in the Tournament of Champions.

(Image credit: Jeopardy!)

A college student whose 13-day cash winnings totaled $411,612, Matt Jackson finished in second place in his season’s Tournament of Champions, earning $100,000, and winning another $100K in the 2019 All-Star Games as part of Ken Jennings’ team. Jackson finished his 13-show run in 2015 as the fourth-highest earner in Jeopardy! history. The graduate of Yale had tried twice to compete in the College Tournament, but was unsuccessful both times. Instead, he was finally successful in getting on the regular show and he certainly took advantage of it. With the $2,000 consolation prize from his original loss, Jackson took home a total of $613,612.

(Image credit: Jeopardy!)

7. Larissa Kelly ($655,930)

In Season 25 in 2008, Larissa Kelly, a college professor originally from Newton, Massachusetts, won a six-day cash winnings total of $222,597. In 2009, she was the first runner-up in the Tournament of Champions, securing another $100,000, and she received one-third of the $1 million prize from the 2019 All-Star team tournament. With the $5,000 she got as an invitee to 2014’s Battle of the Decades and her original $1,000 consolation, Larissa Kelly took home a total of $661,930.

Her husband Jeff Hoppes also competed on Jeopardy! and was defeated by Ken Jennings on the 70th game of the champ’s historic win streak. In a funny coincidence, Hoppes went to high school with Jeopardy! great Brad Rutter. Kelly was the first female champion to win more than five games. Her six-win streak was the longest for a woman until Season 29. She also held the regular-play winnings record for a female champion until Season 30.

(Image credit: Jeopardy!)

6. David Madden ($763,733)

David Madden, an art historian from Ridgewood, New Jersey, earned cash winnings totaling $430,400 in 2005. Following his 19-day run on the show, he also split the $1 million prize for being part of the All-Star team that included Larissa Kelly and Ken Jennings, for an additional $333,333. Not included in the official total are the $10K consolation prize from his Tournament of Champions, and the $2,000 consolation from the loss in his 20th game. In total, Madden took home $775,733.

(Image credit: Jeopardy!)

5. Amy Schneider ($1,382,800)

Second behind only Ken Jennings with 40 consecutive games won, Amy Schneider made history during her win streak in 2022. Early in her run, she became the first openly transgender champion to qualify for the Tournament of Champions, and she just kept winning! Her $1,382,800 makes her one of just four contestants to cross the $1 million in regular-season play, and she cracked the Top 5 overall earnings before she even appeared on her season’s Tournament of Champions. With the $2,000 consolation prize from her 41st game, Schneider has taken home $1,384,800.

(Image credit: Jeopardy!)

4. Matt Amodio ($1,518,601)

Matt Amodio’s winning streak ended just a couple of months shy of Amy Schneider’s first appearance, and while his 38-game win streak was two shy of hers, he came out with a higher amount of cash winnings, earning $1,518,601. Both Amodio and Schneider were supposed to appear on the game show before Alex Trebek’s death, but when COVID shut down production, each was given more time to study, which probably helped Amodio, as his time on the show came when Jeopardy! was auditioning guest hosts to find Trebek’s replacement. During his run, Amodio competed under six different hosts. That’s likely a record that will never be broken.

He also caused a bit of controversy with his answering strategy, responding with “What is…” or “What’s…” regardless of if the question asked for a person, place, etc. His remarkable total of over $1.5 million is — again, like Amy Schneider — before his Tournament of Champions appearance. With the $1,000 consolation prize from his loss, he has taken home $1,519,601 to date.

(Image credit: Jeopardy!)

3. James Holzhauer ($2,962,216)

A sports gambler from Las Vegas, Nevada, whose 32-day cash winnings total $2,462,216, Holzhauer took the Jeopardy! world by storm in the winter and spring of 2019, bringing in record ratings with his swashbuckling style and the odd, but daring, amounts of his bets on Daily Doubles and Final Jeopardy.

Holzhauer was not the first to use the style of bouncing around the board until the Daily Double was revealed, but he was especially good at keeping control of the board until he found it, when he would inevitably make his bet a “True Daily Double” and double his money when he virtually always answered correctly. The same thing happened in Final Jeopardy, when he would usually be so far out in front of his two competitors that he would be in a position to bet huge amounts and again, virtually always answer correctly.

James Holzhauer set the record for the highest single day total an astonishing 16 times over his 33-day run and finished with 21 of the 25 highest single-day scores, including winning $131,127 in one game on April 17, 2019. He went on to add $250,000 as the 2019 Tournament of Champions winner, and another $250,000 as the 2020 Jeopardy!: The Greatest of All Time tournament, where he was first runner-up. Adding in the $2,000 consolation from his regular-season loss, he took home a total of $2,964,216.

(Image credit: Jeopardy!)

2. Ken Jennings ($4,370,700)

The mighty Ken Jennings! A computer scientist from Seattle, Washington, compiled 74-day cash winnings totaling $2,520,700 plus another $500K for a second-place finish in the 2005 Tournament of Champions and $1 million and the title of “Greatest of All Time” in 2020’s GOAT Tournament. As the 2019 All-Star Games captain whose team was first runner-up, he won $100,000, got another $100K from the 2014 Battle of the Decades first runner-up and won $150,000 as first runner-up in the 2011 IBM Challenge. Adding the $2,000 consolation from the loss in his 75th-consecutive game puts him with a take-home total of $4,372,700.

Ken Jennings was the first true Jeopardy! celebrity contestant, expanding his popularity beyond just the show’s hardcore fans and into pop culture when he went on his almost unfathomable 75-day run in the summer of 2005. He was the first person to really take advantage of the rule change that allowed champions to keep competing until they were beaten, rather than being limited to five games.

Ken Jennings has parlayed his Jeopardy! celebrity into a career, writing trivia books, appearing on other game shows, and co-hosting a podcast called Omnibus with John Roderick. Following Alex Trebek’s death in November 2020, Jennings was the first guest host to take over in a long line of celebrity auditions to find the icon’s replacement. As of Season 38 in 2022, a permanent host still had not been named, with Jennings sharing duties with The Big Bang Theory actress and neuroscientist Mayim Bialik.

(Image credit: Jeopardy!)

1. Brad Rutter ($4,938,436)

So, at number one is someone you might not have expected: Brad Rutter, a record store employee from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, whose 5-day cash earnings total $55,102. Yes, you read that right. Rutter was a 5-day Champion who had to retire during his first run back in 2000. It’s been since then that Rutter has set records and proven he is easily one of the best players of all time.

In the years since being a 5-day champ, Brad Rutter has won $2 million in the 2005 Ultimate Tournament of Champions, $1 million in the 2002 Million Dollar Masters Tournament, another $1 million in 2014’s Battle of the Decades, and hundreds of thousands more in the 2001 Tournament of Champions, the IBM Challenge, 2019’s All-Star Tournament and the Greatest of All Time tournament in 2020.

Honorable Mentions

Honorable mention goes out to Arthur Chu, a columnist from Broadview Heights, Ohio, whose controversial game play, annoying, aggressive buzzer pressing, and his penchant for getting snippy with host Alex Trebek made him a polarizing contestant among Jeopardy! fans in 2014. He won $298,200 over 12 games in 2014 and won another $100K for finishing second in that season’s Tournament of Champions.

Another honorable mention goes out to Chuck Forrest, a contestant who in the ‘80s who was once one of the best to play the game. Because of the 5-Day Champion rule, as well as the lower cash prizes when he played, Forrest doesn’t appear on the list, but his accomplishments are legendary, including being credited with a common strategy now known as the “Forrest Bounce,” when contestants bounce from clue to clue (a strategy that drove longtime host Alex Trebek nuts), rather than going one by one down a category as contestants were originally intended to do. Arthur Chu and James Holzhauer were both very successful using the “Forrest Bounce.”

Finally, a third honorable mention goes to IBM’s supercomputer known as “Watson,” whose artificial intelligence software was originally specifically designed to compete on Jeopardy! and faced off against Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter in a 3-day game in February of 2011. Watson won the game for a total of $77,000.

Winning a lot of money on Jeopardy! is hard work. These champions don’t just show up with their bad sweaters and inane personal stories and win without any preparation. Almost all these big-time winners studied the game intently before appearing on the show. They watched thousands of hours of old games, read strategy guides, and even sought out the advice of past champions. They are also clearly pretty damn smart people.Ken Jennings’ record of 75-straight days as champion may never fall, but who knows?