Will 'Jeopardy!' ever get a super champ again? Former winner Ben Goldstein thinks he was the 'last one'
CULVER CITY, CALIFORNIA: While 'Jeopardy!' has seen many unexpected wins in the past decades the game show has been running. This, without a doubt, includes current host Ken Jennings' streak which has lasted the longest so far and has not come close to being challenged after almost 20 years.
Something the game show has been struggling with in this particular season is finding a champ that sticks around for longer than a short one or two-day streak. Former champ Ben Goldstein seems to believe that 'Jeopardy!' will not find another champ for a long time as the season nears its conclusion.
'Jeopardy!' champ Ben Goldstein loses hope in a new champ
As 'Jeopardy!' crowned its shiny new champ in tonight's episode, it again came into question whether anyone on the show would last long enough to even have a considerable number of winning days under their belt.
I don't think anyone will win three games of #Jeopardy in a row ever again. It's over folks. I was the last one.
— Ben Goldstein (@GoldsteinRaw) July 21, 2023
Previous champ Ben Goldstein seemed to have similar concerns as he went on to mock the game show for not having long winning streaks. His tweet jokingly said, "I don't think anyone will win three games of #Jeopardy in a row ever again. It's over folks. I was the last one." Goldstein gave an impressive performance in the trivia game by maintaining his streak for five days with a total money prize of $49,298. His streak ended on June 23, 2023, after the exciting six episodes as his crown was passed on to the librarian Donna Matturri.
Have the 'Jeopardy!' champ streaks become shorter?
Season 39 was not all dry and came out with a legend of its own in the shape of Cris Panullo. The 'Jeopardy!' champ was able to maintain his winning streak for 21 days straight and even landed on the leaderboard of the game show's all-time highest prize winnings with more than half a million ending up in his bank.
The numbers speak for themselves. Check out the stats on Cris Pannullo 👍 #Jeopardy! pic.twitter.com/4ZKBTbTBOr
— Jeopardy! (@Jeopardy) December 7, 2022
But besides Panullo, the show hasn't seen such a long streak for all of its duration. There have been several 8-day champs like Ben Chan and Stephen Webb amongst others. But most of the returning champs only last their run for one more episode before bowing out again. Recently, several promising contestants like Daniel Moore and Suresh Krishnan missed out on longer streaks as luck didn't seem to be on their side. As the season moves into its last week before going on a hiatus, it seems unlikely that it will get another major champ for the conclusive days.
