Adam Remsen, a 12-game Jeopardy! champion, saw his winning streak come to an end after he failed to answer a final Jeopardy question correctly. The question, under the category '20th Century Novels,' asked: 'David Ben-Gurion called this 1958 book “as a piece of propaganda… the greatest thing ever written about Israel.”' Remsen guessed 'What is Fiddler on The Roof?' but the correct answer was 'What is Exodus?', the 1958 novel by Leon Uris.
The Final Jeopardy Bet
Remsen, an attorney and theatre producer from Memphis, Tennessee, wagered $8,001 on his incorrect answer, reducing his total for the game to $12,779. His opponents, Mandy Moreno and Richard Nguyen, also competed. Nguyen was the only contestant to answer correctly, wagering $6,401 and ending with $20,801, dethroning Remsen as champion.
Remsen's Streak and Winnings
Despite the loss, Remsen left the show as the most successful Jeopardy! contestant from Tennessee and ranked joint 17th on the all-time champions list. His 12-game streak earned him $306,415 in winnings. He attributed his success to practice with a buzzer and studying his weak areas, including opera, 19th-century presidents, European monarchs, and rivers. 'I knew what my weak spots were, so I studied those,' he told the Commercial Appeal. 'It's so hard to get on Jeopardy! that on every question, you have to assume that at least two of the contestants know the answer. So it's not a knowledge contest, it's a buzzer contest.'
2026 Jeopardy! Champions
Remsen is not the most successful contestant of 2026. That honor belongs to Jamie Ding, who won 31 games earlier in the year and became the fifth all-time most successful contestant, taking home $882,605 in winnings. The all-time champion remains Ken Jennings, who now hosts the show, with a 74-game streak and over $2.5 million in prize money.
