The legend of Jeopardy! champion James Holzhauer lives on – but just barely.
On Monday night, the prolific Holzhauer survived the toughest match of his three-week run on the game show (seen on 11Alive every weekday at 7:30 p.m. EST), needing a correct answer on Final Jeopardy and a $20,500 wager to advance on Jeopardy!
The difference between his runner-up competition: A mere $18.
Last week, Holzhauer – a 34-year old sports gambler from Las Vegas – became the fastest contestant to hit the $1 million mark with career earnings in show history (non-tournaments), accomplishing the feat in only 14 episodes.
Monday's triumph raises Holzhauer's victory tally to 18, nearly 25 percent of the way to Ken Jennings' all-time record for consecutive wins (74).
Holzhauer (mathematics degree from the University of Illinois) could topple Jennings' consecutive-victories mark sometime in July.
In the meantime, the more feasible record involves Jennings' all-time winnings of $2.5 million.
During his 18-day run, Holzhauer has averaged an absurd daily cash payout of more than $70,000.
Holzhauer has quickly become famous for aggressively bouncing around the board in search of daily doubles (typically at high values) ... and then doubling down his efforts during Final Jeopardy, regardless of how certain the daily victory might be.