Featured J!Buzz

Jeopardy! super-champion Scott Riccardi finished his winning streak on Friday with 16 consecutive victories and an impressive total of $455,000 in winnings.

Despite holding a commanding lead over his opponents, Jonathan Hugendubler and Charlotte Cooper, through the first two rounds of Friday’s game, Scott came up short in Final Jeopardy! and finished second behind Jonathan.

Though just one game short of his goal to remain champion through the summer, Scott departs the Alex Trebek Stage as one of Jeopardy!’s elite. He now ranks No. 8 for highest total winnings and No. 10 for most consecutive games won on the Leaderboard of Legends, alongside fellow 16-game super-champ Ryan Long.

Scott said he learned of the prestigious leaderboard halfway through his run, but did not consider the possibility of becoming a ranked player.

“I just kind of opened it up and looked at those numbers, and I was like, ‘There’s no way I’m hitting any of those,’” Scott said. “‘That’s just not going to happen, like how could it?’” 

And even now, as 16-game super-champ, Scott said the reality of his success still hasn’t quite sunk in.

“This whole experience is just so surreal,” Scott said, that “It almost feels like it’s going to be a thing where I’m just going to wake up back in New Jersey and none of it will have really happened.” 

Scott will return to compete in the next Tournament of Champions and said he plans to “try to learn new things every day” until then.