Surprisingly, Ken Jennings Is Not the 'Jeopardy!' Champion With the Most Money Won

Everyone knows Ken Jennings thanks to his 74-game streak on the popular trivia game show Jeopardy!

However, despite his record for most games won, he is not the Jeopardy! champion with the most winnings, if you include tournaments.

And no, it's not James Holzhauer either, who became known for his all-in attitude to Daily Doubles.

So, who is the highest money winner on Jeopardy!? Keep reading to find out!

Canadian contestant Mattea Roach started her Jeopardy! run with a 23-game winning streak in April 2022. She ended her streak with $560,983.

However, she has returned for Jeopardy! Masters in 2023, which means her prize winnings can go up!

Matt Jackson, a paralegal from Washington, D.C., earned $413,612 over the course of 13 games and an additional $100,000 in the 2015 Tournament of Champions. In 2019, he earned second place in the show's "All-Star Games" alongside his teammates Ken Jennings and Monica Thieu.

Larissa was the female contestant with the most money won on Jeopardy! thanks to her impressive six-game streak in 2008 and her appearance on Jeopardy! All Star Games where she split $1 million with Brad Rutter and David Madden.

However, her record was broken by Amy Schneider, and Larissa congratulated Amy on Twitter, writing, "Well, it was fun to hold a Jeopardy record for a few years...but it's been even more fun to watch @Jeopardamy set new standards for excellence, on the show and off. Congratulations to Amy on becoming the woman with the highest overall earnings in the show's history."

Cris Pannullo made his Jeopardy! debut on September 30, 2022, and he went on to win 21 games and $748,286.

Chris has also returned for Jeopardy! Masters, which premiered on May 8, 2023, and features Chris competing against a few people on this list, including Mattea Roach and James Holzhauer.

Speaking of David Madden, he is a 19-day champion, which is the fifth-longest Jeopardy! winning streak on the show.

Another 2021 addition to this list is doctorate candidate Matt Amodio, who won 38 consecutive games, making him second to none other than Ken Jennings.

It's no surprise his run on the show was dubbed the "Amodio Rodeo."

One of the newest additions to the list of highest-winning Jeopardy! champions is Amy Schneider, whose impressive streak ended in January 2022 after 40 consecutive games.

Amy, an engineering manager from Oakland, Calif., earned $1,382,800, "putting her in fourth place for highest all-time regular-season cash winnings on the show," per CBS News.

However, Amy returned for the 2022 Tournament of Champions and won an additional $250,000, putting her grand total at over $1.6 million!

James set multiple single-game records for winnings during his 32-game streak on Jeopardy!, earning $2,464,216 in regular play.

Add in the $250,000 top prize in the Tournament of Champions in 2019 and $250,000 runner-up prize in the Greatest of All Time Tournament in 2020, and "Jeopardy James" walked away with nearly $3 million in winnings.

Ken definitely earned his hosting duties on Jeopardy!

Since his first appearance on the quiz show in 2004, Ken has earned over $4 million in winnings.

Despite coming in last place in the Greatest of All Time Tournament, Brad Rutter is No. 1 when it comes to overall winnings, raking in close to $5 million since he won his first game in 2000.

We have a feeling it will be a long time until someone knocks Brad off this pedestal.