Jamie Ding's record-breaking Jeopardy! reign has finally come to an end. The 33-year-old's historic 31-day winning streak was toppled during the game show's April 27 episode, as fellow contestant Greg Shahade secured a runaway victory before heading into Final Jeopardy. In the last clue of Double Jeopardy, under the category "The Shape of Things," host Ken Jennings read the clue, "Home to private residences and hotels, the manmade archipelago seen here in Dubai is built in the shape of one of these." Jamie responded with "palm leaf" instead of the correct "palm tree," losing $400 and dropping to $16,000 compared to Greg's $32,600 before Final Jeopardy. Ultimately, chess champion Greg defeated the New Jersey bureaucrat, who had won every single game since his March 13 debut on the trivia series. Jamie signed off in Final Jeopardy by writing "TTFN" (ta ta for now).
In total, he won a whopping $882,605, placing him fifth among Jeopardy!'s top earners of all time. Ken still holds the record with 74 consecutive wins, followed by Amy Schneider's 40 wins, Matt Amodio's 38 wins, and James Holzhauer's 32 wins.
As for how Jamie feels about being dethroned, he told People in an interview published April 27, "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. It almost makes me feel better about it because there wasn't really one clue or whatever that everything hinged on."
While Jamie certainly made his history-making run look easy, his family members never expected him to go so far in the competition. "We know he knows a lot," his father Yuchuan Ding admitted to The Detroit News in an interview published April 16. "But not this much." Jamie's younger sister Jessie Ding added that she originally worried her sibling would "crash and burn" on the show. "I didn't want him to go on national TV and embarrass himself," she echoed. "But he didn't."
Now that Jamie's wild ride has come to an end—he will, however, be returning to compete in Jeopardy!'s next Tournament of Champions—the Michigan native couldn't be more thankful for the support of fans, especially those he's related to. "My family are absolute heroes," Jamie told the outlet. "I would not be where I am today without their unconditional love and support. I'm very glad that I got to do something grand to make them proud."
