Final question ends Harrison Whitaker’s 14-day win streak on ‘Jeopardy!’
Harrison Whitaker’s 14-episode winning streak on TV’s ‘Jeopardy!’ game show reached its end Monday night.
All good things come to an end.
“What phrase best describes Terre Haute native Harrison Whitaker’s 15th consecutive appearance on the TV game show ‘Jeopardy!’?”
Indeed, Whitaker’s 14-episode winning streak on the popular syndicated quiz show — in which contestants famously must respond to clues, such as the one above, in the form of a question — reached its end Monday night.
Harrison Whitaker, a Terre Haute North High School graduate, won 14 straight episodes of “Jeopardy!”
Whitaker had delivered the correct responses to the Final Jeopardy clues in 10 of his first 14 appearances. And even after missing the Final Jeopardy clues in those four other episodes, Whitaker still won the day’s competition. The Terre Haute native won his debut on Nov. 11 and then successfully defended his champion title 13 times.
But his amazing streak ended with Monday night’s episode. It was an “immense, crushing disappointment,” Whitaker said Monday evening. He spoke via email from Manchester, England, where he lives and works as a freelance researcher.
The 27-year-old Terre Haute North High School graduate entered Monday’s Final Jeopardy round leading with $21,000, ahead of challengers Libby Jones, a recruiter from Davenport, Florida with $17,200; and Brendan Thomas, a historian from Fayetteville, Arkansas with $3,600.
Alas, Jones wound up winning, thanks to a correct response to the Final Jeopardy clue in the “Postage Stamps” category. The clue read, “A 1959 4-cent stamp depicts an eagle and a maple leaf beneath the name of this project.” Jones rightly answered, “What is the St. Lawrence Seaway?” Jones’ wager of $7,601 raised her daily total to $24,801.
That was enough to eclipse Whitaker. His response was “What is the Ambassador Bridge?” He’d wagered $13,401, dropping his daily total to $7,599. Like Jones, Thomas also answered correctly and his wager of $3,599 boosted his total to $7,199, just shy of Whitaker.
“As far as that Final Jeopardy goes, it’s a difficult one,” Whitaker said Monday. “I knew immediately from the clue that it was a major engineering project involving both the U.S. and Canada, and I had it down between the St. Lawrence Seaway and the Ambassador Bridge. In the end I chose incorrectly, but Libby played a fantastic game and absolutely earned her champion status.”
Despite Monday’s loss, Whitaker etched his name in “Jeopardy!” history, which dates back to its debut on NBC in 1964 with late original host Art Fleming, and the begin of its syndicated run in 1984 with late longtime host Alex Trebek.
Whitaker earned a spot in the show’s 2027 Tournament of Champions with his fifth straight victory, and earned “super-champion” status with his 10th consecutive win. His total earnings after 14 wins in a row totaled $373,999 — the 14th-highest regular-play amount in “Jeopardy!” history.
He responded correctly to 434 clues in his 15 show appearances, with only 43 incorrect responses. He answered 17 of 31 Daily Double quizzes correctly, as well. On the episode that aired Thanksgiving Day, he won another $22,000 with 31 correct responses out of 34, and then picked up $21,999 more with a win last Friday, getting all 27 responses right.
Whitaker is the son of former Indiana State University faculty members Todd and Beth Whitaker. His parents now live in Missouri and serve as professors at the University of Missouri.
Back in Terre Haute, Harrison’s hometown closely followed his nightly “Jeopardy!” efforts. He admits to having had mixed feelings when the streak ended. Whitaker’s appearances were actually filmed in October at the show’s Culver City, California studio.
“The moment was one of immense, crushing disappointment, but it held some relief too,” Whitaker said Monday. “Playing ‘Jeopardy!’ is tiring and, weirdly, quite emotionally draining for me. By that time, I was nearing the end of my stamina and wasn’t quite playing the way I wanted to anymore. I really was just lucky to have made it that far and all the more lucky to have my streak ended by such a deserving winner.”
