One “Jeopardy!” champ won 74 games and $2.5 million dollars. The other came close to winning $2.5 million over the course of 32 wins.
They had different strategies, but both players proved to be formidable. And although they played 15 years apart, the Ken Jennings and James Holzhauer rivalry is strong.
The two went head-to-head three years ago in the highly competitive “Jeopardy!” Greatest of All Time tournament. Jennings, whose 74-game run came 15 years earlier, was hesitant about taking part in that competition, telling the Deseret News at the time that he believed he was “over the hill.” But the victory was his.
Holzhauer hasn’t forgotten — and he wants a rematch.
But if Jennings isn’t up for a “Jeopardy!” rematch, Holzhauer is willing to take their rivalry to a new platform on national TV.
“‘American Ninja Warrior’ would be fun if they didn’t mind us running the course,” Holzhauer recently told TV Insider. “Don’t know how each of us would complete the obstacles.
He is quite a bit older than me, though, so I would have some advantage.”
Will Ken Jennings and James Holzhauer ever have a ‘Jeopardy!’ rematch?
Last month, Holzhauer returned to play “Jeopardy!” with other top players in the show’s inaugural Masters tournament. This time around, playing Jennings wasn’t an option — Jennings, along with Mayim Bialik, had been named permanent “Jeopardy!” co-hosts.
Throughout the tournament, Holzhauer often had his games in the bag by the Final Jeopardy round, and would use the round to take a jab at Jennings. One of his first zingers: “Stop ducking a rematch, Ken.”
It’s something “Jeopardy!” fans would undoubtedly love to see, but the host seems to have made up his mind — for good.
“Let me be very clear and on the record here: It’s because I’m terrified of playing James because I think he would win,” Jennings recently told the Deseret News. “I’m very happy to be retired from ‘Jeopardy!’ because I think I got away with one in the GOAT tournament. And I think there’s a very good chance that he would just wipe the floor with me if we had to play again. So I feel very lucky to be retired — ain’t gonna be no rematch.”
But Holzhauer — who will appear throughout Season 4 of the game show “The Chase,” which premieres June 29 on ABC — is still holding out hope.
“It’s funny. I heard the backstage gossip that he didn’t want to be in the Greatest of All Time because he thought it would be too tough a competition for him,” he told TV Insider. “Obviously, it wasn’t. I think he is still at the top of his game, probably. It would be fun to have a rematch against him. I don’t know if the ‘Jeopardy!’ rules would allow it.”
“Jeopardy!” has a rule that once someone has hosted the quiz show, they are no longer allowed to compete, the Deseret News reported. But Michael Davies, the show’s executive producer who took over after Mike Richards’ firing in 2021, has said he would be willing to bend the rule should an appropriate occasion arise.
But Jennings seems adamant that his “Jeopardy!” playing days are over — for now.
Verdict’s still out on “American Ninja Warrior.”