‘Jeopardy!’ Champion Tristan Williams Speaks Out After Dramatic Loss

Jeopardy! super champion Tristan Williams spoke out after losing on the show. The super champion was the first person to lose his 11th game after winning his 10th game.

Williams won $221,902 plus $3,000 prize money from his second-place loss on May 20, giving him $224,902 in total. Now, the super champ is speaking out about his loss, but he will be back for an upcoming Tournament of Champions.

The champion, who is a new dad, was compared to Woody from Toy Story. The game show contestant had multiple runaway wins and close calls throughout his time on the show. Williams was close to winning his eleventh, but his opponent was the only one who got the Final Jeopardy question right, so he took the win.

“Hey, everybody! That’s a wrap! First off, let me just say that I can’t wait to totally own the role of Jeopardy!’s ‘minimum viable super champ’ after being the first to win exactly 10 games,” he wrote on Reddit. “To everyone who was hoping this was an Amy run to Jamie’s Matt, you’re too kind! We were more of a Matt & Jonathan Fisher (who is fantastic), but that means the new Amy should be along in a few weeks.”

“It’s still funny to me just how unexpectedly good I’d felt the morning of this game. The last day’s shows were a wreck of nerves, but starting with this rehearsal, I just felt super comfortable and like I actually could play indefinitely. My buzzer timing kept lagging, as you can see in every J round, and I wasn’t sure if that was from pain or what (seriously, my thumb was sore for days after this), but I still would reliably pick it up in DJ, and I felt much clearer in thinking about DDs and FJ.”

'Jeopardy!': Tristan Williams Speaks Out After Becoming Super Champ on His Birthday

The data scientist went on to say that it was pretty fun in the studio. “We had a great post-game chat that I’m sure they will publish, and then the crowd stuck around while I got to do a photo shoot with my total winnings amount and Ken,” he said. Williams had pizza for lunch after and ate anything he wanted because he didn’t have to worry about being on stage after. “Someone in the crew told me that the previous champ ate the pizza every single day. Jamie, that is insane.”

“Anyway, I was in a pretty amazing mood for the rest of my time there. I got to hang out in the green room for the last two games with Thomas and our alternate Veronica, who plays next week, and I really can’t say enough about how fun it is back there. It was the perfect way to end this before heading home,” Williams said.

He ended by saying, “Tbh it’s exciting to be able to just focus on my normal life for a while. After that, well, I’ve got a tournament to prep for!”

He is the next super champ after Jamie Ding, from Lawrenceville, New Jersey, who won 31 games and secured his spot on the Leaderboard of Legends.

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

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