Jamie Ding’s winning streak on “Jeopardy!” ended on Monday, leaving the New Jersey resident with the fifth-longest run of success on the longtime television game show.
Ding, 33, ripped off 31 straight victories and won $882,605 in prize money, People reported. The Princeton University graduate was beaten by Greg Shahade on the April 27 episode of the show.
Ding’s streak fell one short of matching James Holzhauer’s run in 2019, according to the magazine.
Ken Jennings, who is now the show’s host, remains the all-time leader with 74 wins, People reported. He is followed by Amy Schneider (40 in 2022), Matt Amodio (38 in 2021) and Holzhauer (32 in 2019).
Ding is also No. 5 in highest regular-season winnings, The Wall Street Journal reported. Jennings is also No. 1 in that category, with $2.5 million in earnings.
Ding fell behind early in the game’s broadcast to Shahade, an International Master in chess, The New York Times reported.
Although Ding had the correct answer in Final Jeopardy -- about South African languages -- it was not enough to make up the deficit as he lost by 13,990 points.
“It was over, just like that,” Ding said.
“I think my last game is unusual, because I was a super champ, but I also lost in a runaway, which I feel like is the first time that ever happened,” Ding told People. “It almost makes me feel better about the thing because there wasn’t really one clue or whatever that everything hinged on.”
Ding plans to continue in his job as an administrator in a New Jersey housing agency and will return to “Jeopardy!” for the next Tournament of Champions, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Ding was born in Australia and his parents are from China, the newspaper reported. He became a U.S. citizen in 2007.
“When you’re into trivia, you know facts about things that you haven’t actually experienced for yourself or you don’t really understand,” he told The Wall Street Journal. “Sometimes as an immigrant I feel that way. Like, I know what these things are, but how much do I understand them? Also, I didn’t really grow up watching ‘Jeopardy!’
“It’s a really fast-moving show, and if English is not your first language, like for my parents, then it’s quite hard to follow along.”
Ding told the Times that he remained calm during his final game, even as he realized victory was out of reach.
“During it, I was trying to stay grounded,” he said. “Planning to win a whole bunch of games of ‘Jeopardy!’ just feels like asking to lose.”
Ding is excited to return. For his Final Jeopardy answer, he wrote “TTFN” in a farewell note -- (ta ta for now), People reported.
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