Jeopardy Win Streak Ends at 20, Julia Collins Earns Nearly Half a Million on Show
A notable game show streak ended yesterday when Julia Collins failed to repeat as Jeopardy! champion.
A 31-year-old business consultant from Kenilworth, Illinois, Collins came into Monday's game with 20 straight victories (not including "Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions" games). That string of sustained success is second most in the show's 30 year history and is only exceeded by Ken Jennings' record 74 game win streak.
As for her earnings, she finished with a whooping pretax windfall of $428,100. Collins did have a chance to add $11,000 to that lofty sum, but she elected to bet it all on the Final Jeopardy! question and with good reason -- she was a distant second place going into the final frame.
What was the question that finally did her in? It was a novel one -- about book to movie adaptation "Cider House Rules."
From the category "Oscar-Winning Writers," the question asked which New England writer was the last person to win an Oscar for adapting his own novel.
The correct answer was John Irving. Brian Loughnane of Scituate, Massachusetts got the answered correct and dethroned the Queen of "Jeopardy!"
"I wasn't too confident, and I guessed writer Michael Chabon," Collins later remarked. "It was just one of those things, and I kind of knew I didn't have the right answer when I was writing it down, so I was not surprised."
Collins said victory 21 wasn't in the cards. During a phone interview with the Associated Press Collins stated that it "just didn't go my way." She went on to say that she "... couldn't have loved being on the show more."
Longtime Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek congratulated Collins by saying "Well done, young lady" after her winning streak was broken up.
Collins success also means that she is now the winningest female champion in "Jeopardy!" history.
"If it helps dispel the idea that women aren't as good 'Jeopardy!' players as men, that would be great," Collins said. "It's good to see women being applauded for being smart."
Collins will now likely face controversial "game theory" tactician Arthur Chu in the "Tournament of Champions." Chu won 11 games in a row, also in 2014.
Do you watch "Jeopardy!"? Do you think you could beat Julia? Let us know in the comments section below.
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