Jeopardy phenom James Holzhauer’s Twitter feed tonight is solid gold. The end of his winning streak just aired, and besides a quick back-and-forth with fellow Jeopardy! super-winner Ken Jennings, he has responded with a series of snarky and self-effacing jokes, thanks to fans of the show and supporters of his streak, and the most perfect profile picture anybody could have hoped for. Holzhauer, who won 32 games in a row and earned more than $2 million along the way, changed the photo on his Twitter account to a screenshot from “Weird Al” Yankovic’s music video for his 1984 single “I Lost on Jeopardy!.”
Videos by ComicBook.com
“I Lost on Jeopardy!” appeared on Yankovic’s second album, “Weird Al” Yankovic in 3-D. The song is a parody of “Jeopardy” by The Greg Kihn Band, and its refrain “Our love’s in jeopardy.” The parody is actually a reference to the original run of Jeopardy!, hosted by Art Fleming, which had been cancelled in 1975; a syndicated revival, with Alex Trebek, began three months after the single’s release. The video for the song featured cameo appearances by original Jeopardy! host Art Fleming and announcer Don Pardo, as well as a brief appearance by Greg Kihn. Yankovic has yet to respond on social media as of this writing, but it seems like a perfect opportunity for the musician to promote his upcoming “Strings Attached” tour, in which he will perform with an orchestra. The tour starts later this month.
Holzhauer fell around $58,000 short of the all-time winnings record set by Ken Jennings, although with a significantly shorter winning streak — Holzhauer won 32 in a row, Jennings 74 — he can lay claim to an average nightly score significantly higher than anybody else in Jeopardy! history. Holzhauer and Jennings have been joking around on Twitter for days, even though both men knew that Holzhauer’s winning streak would end just shy of Jennings’s record. Along the way, it wasn’t just Holzhauer that made a lot of money, though; Jeopardy! has had its highest ratings in over a decade as his streak heated up.
Jeopardy! fans started the spring on a down note: in March, longtime host Alex Trebek announced that he was undergoing treatment for pancreatic cancer, sending a chill through the fan community. Holzhauer’s streak, the ratings, and Trebek’s continued good humor have been carrying the fans through the season on a high.
