‘Jeopardy!’: James Holzhauer Blasts Show Over Prize Money — Fans React

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Jeopardy! champion James Holzhauer criticized the show’s stagnant prize money, highlighting that winnings have not significantly increased and the amounts on the board have remained unchanged since 2001.
Fans pointed out that other game shows, such as Wheel of Fortune, have recently increased their prize amounts, while Jeopardy!‘s prizes have not kept pace with inflation or industry trends.
Many fans agreed with Holzhauer, calling for Jeopardy! to raise its prize money to reflect current economic realities and remain competitive with other game shows.

Jeopardy! champion James Holzhauer has blasted the game show over its prize money value and not kept pace with inflation over the years. He responded to a tweet about how Jeopardy! has had a “stagnation” it gives away in recent seasons.

Matthew Yglesias, a Bloomsburg columnist, tweeted on November 18, “We need to talk about the nominal stagnation of Jeopardy! prize money.”

Holzahuer then quote-tweeted him with a graph of the Jeopardy! winnings for eight seasons, along with a photo of a man in a hot dog costume. The graph started with Season 33 (2016 to 2017), which had $5,142,060 in winnings. Season 34 grew with $5,607,851.

Then in Season 35, which was Holzhauer’s season, the total winnings were $9,069,465. He set the record for highest single-game winnings in the show’s history with $131,127 and played 33 games in total, according to the Leaderboard of Legends. Holzhauer has won $3,612,216 in total, including tournaments.

After his season, the winnings went down drastically. Season 37 had a total of $4,913,243. The graph showed up to Season 40, in which none of the regular seasons surpassed $6,660,000. However, Celebrity Jeopardy! and Jeopardy! Masters helped seasons 39 and 40 reach over $8,000,000.

Although amounts on Jeopardy! are never certain, due to Daily Double and Final Jeopardy wagers, the amounts on the board haven’t changed since 2001, with the highest being $2,000, according to Game Shows Wiki.

Fans agreed with Holzhauer and said a change needs to be made. “We need to index Jeopardy! clues to inflation, for too long have prize show victors been under the yoke of nominal price values,” a X user said.

“Survivor has been $1 million for 25 years lol,” one Holzhauer fan pointed out.

Wheel of Fortune upped its Bonus Round amounts this season by $5,000, seeing amounts like $45,000 and $55,000. They are also having a $500,000 Bonus Round week, starting on November 24.

The Floor gives away $250,000 to the winner and offers $20,000 to the person who has the most amount of floor each week.

However, game shows like Family Feud and Match Game have been stuck at the top prize of $25,000 for a long time.

Do you think Jeopardy! needs to up their prize money? Let us know in the comments.

Jeopardy!, weekdays, check local listings, stream next day on Hulu and Peacock