Jeopardy!‘s 2020 “Greatest of All Time” tournament might’ve settled the matter of which mega-champion was, well, the greatest of all time between Ken Jennings, Brad Rutter, and James Holzhauer (that’d be Jennings, who won the showcase). But now fans are wondering what other former contestants deserve to have the ultimate respect put on their names and be featured on the show’s Mount Rushmore.
A Reddit thread has seen fans pitch their picks for the four greatest players in the game show’s history and they have made some interesting cases for certain contestants.
One commenter, for example, suggested that IBM’s Watson, the supercomputer that competed and won against Rutter and Jennings back in a 2011 Jeopardy! Contest.
“I kind of wish there was an opportunity for a new IBM challenge with some of the modern super-champs,” one user responded in the thread. Another added, “Truly, I think the only reason it won was because of reading speed. I believe if you gave all contestants audio-only clues, humans would still win.”
As for the human picks, frequent suggestions included Masters alum Amy Schneider and new “Final Boss” Victoria Groce, as well as Chuck Forrest.
“Amy is the winningest woman in Jeopardy history. She played a more classic game even after James changed the way it’s played at the highest levels, and was able to show that being brilliant and putting up remarkable coryats may still be the way to put together long winning streaks,” a fan wrote, adding, “Victoria represents the new era of Jeopardy. She bulldozed her way through the stacked JIT field and then won Masters with an absolutely elite combination of buzzer speed, mental math and trivia dominance. In many ways she has the best of the skills of the three people I mentioned before, which makes her extraordinarily formidable.”
Another fan echoed the love for Groce’s gameplay, writing, “I liked her ability to quickly do the math in her head for the best betting strategy whenever she got the daily doubles. best representation of the modern jeopardy champion.”
About Forrest, another wrote that he “was the James of the 80’s, pioneering new strategies and the writing the book that provided so many others (Bob Harris eg) a head-start in proficiency.” And one commenter issued the ultimate praise for him, writing, “Chuck was the first player I ever ‘marked out’ over. First player I ever had to see.”
Another suggestion was Roger Craig, who one user noted “held the single day Jeopardy! winnings record of $77k for almost a decade.” And yet another picked Bob Harris, citing that he “was the contestant face of Jeopardy. Big money winner. Frequent returning champ. Parlayed his success into a successful writing and radio career.” Meanwhile, a pitch for Sam Buttrey was also made, with one user writing, “Sam brought us ‘bring it!’ and a level of affable, self-aware humor that makes him my favorite part of every episode he’s on.” Recent Masters contenders Mattea Roach and Matt Amodio also received some mentions in the thread.
Perhaps the hottest take of the discussion was this: “So I’m going to be controversial and not include Ken. Not because he isn’t the GOAT, he is quite literally the GOAT. But since he’s in a league of his own and is now the host, I think he’s transcended recognition as simply a player. He is Jeopardy at this point, in a way no one else can be,” one commenter suggested.
Are they right? Are these the folks that would deserve a shot at the “Mount Rushmore” of Jeopardy!? Hit the comments with your own picks!
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