10 Jeopardy! winners who won the biggest cash prizes
'Jeopardy!' is easily one of the most intriguing and longest-running game shows in the history of television. The mega sums won as cash prizes by the contestants add to the appeal of the game show. Here we have brought to you a list of the ten top earners on 'Jeopardy!'
Matt Jackson ($611,612)
The Yale graduate Matt Jackson not only features on the list of top 10 highest earners in 'Jeopardy!' history with an accumulated total of $611,612, but he has also emerged as one of highest winning candidate in a regular season with his 13-day cash winnings totaling to $411,612. Jackson won $100k twice — once while participating in his season’s Tournament of Champions, and in 2019 as a part of Ken Jennings’ team in All-Star Games.
Larissa Kelly ($655,930)
The Princeton University graduate and UC Berkeley PhD, Larissa Kelly features in the list with a total win of $655,930. The history professor was also the first runner-up in the Tournament of Champions in 2009 and a part of the winning Team Brad Rutter in the 2019 All-Star team tournament.
Cris Pannullo ($748,286)
Chris Pannullo features in the list of all-time big winners with a total win of $748,286. The customer success operations manager from Ocean City, New Jersey, also has the record of being at the sixth spot of most number of consecutive games won with a streak of 21 games. He is also placed at the fifth spot of the highest winnings of regular season play, starting September 2022.
David Madden ($763,733)
The Princeton University graduate and an art historian from Ridgewood, New Jersey, is placed at the seventh place in the list of All-Time winnings at the Leaderboard of Legends with a total win of $763,733. Placed in the eighth position of consecutive games won (at 19 games) and eighth in the regular season play, he earned $430,400 for his season's appearance on the competition.
Mattea Roach ($810,983)
The University of Toronto graduate and tutor Mattea Roach has an enviable 23 consecutive game winstreak that they achieved in 2022 only at the age of 23. Roach earned a total of $810,983 out of which $560,983 came from her 23 wins. They were also placed second to James Holzhauer in the 2023 Jeopardy! Masters tournament.
Amy Schneider ($1,632,800)
The American author Amy Schneider came only second to Ken Jennings to have the longest winning streak, unbeaten in 40 consecutive games. From her magnificent season from 2021 to 2022, Schneider earned $1,382,800 placing her in the fourth position of season's highest. She is also the winner of the Tournament of Champions, making her total come up to $1,632,800.
Matt Amodio ($1,668,601)
Matt Amodio holds the fourth position of the highest-ever winnings with a total of $1,668,601. Unbeaten in 38 games, he has the third-longest winning streak in the show's history. In terms of highest season win, he appears third on the list with $1,518,601.
James Holzhauer ($3,462,216)
The sports gambler from Las Vegas James Holzhauer stands proud at third place with a total winning amount of $3,462,216. He also posted the highest single day total in a record breaking 21 of the 25 highest single-day scores, with one of his wins being $131,127 on April 17, 2019. He also became the 2019 Tournament of Champions winner and the 2020 Jeopardy!: The Greatest of All Time tournament runner-up.
Ken Jennings ($4,370,700)
The mighty Ken Jennings, despite having a record streak of being unbeaten in 74 games, is in second place in the list of all-time highest earners, with a total of $4,370,700. The record holder for highest consecutive wins is also the record holder of being the biggest winner of a regular season's play with a total win of $2,520,700.
Brad Rutter ($4,938,436)
The Johns Hopkins University graduate, Brad Rutter, is in first place on the All-time winnings list. While he initially appeared in 2020, during the gameshow's five-day policy where a champion had to retire after every five days, Rutter made several appearances on the show since then. He won millions during 2005 Ultimate Tournament of Champions, 2002 Million Dollar Masters Tournament, 2014’s Battle of the Decades, 2001 Tournament of Champions, and, 2019’s All-Star Tournament and the 2020 Greatest of All Time tournament.
