Who can beat James Holzhauer on 'Jeopardy!'? Former opponent sounds off

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Tuesday, May 21, 2019
Former 'Jeopardy!' foe on who could beat James Holzhauer
One of James Holzhauer's former foes thinks there's only one person who could beat the history-making 'Jeopardy!' champ.

If you ask Claudia Walters, there's only one person who can derail James Holzhauer's journey to the top of the "Jeopardy!" leaderboard: Holzhauer himself.

Walters competed on "Jeopardy!" last month, but Holzhauer bested her by more than $100,000.

"I think it's going to actually take James taking himself out," Walters told ABC News. "He's going to have to make mistakes on some doubles and go all in for him to lose."

Jasmine Leonas, another of Holzhauer's competitors, detailed her experience going up against Holzhauer in a recent Chicago Tribune column, writing that she "wanted to be the one to take James down."

"I was trying to picture myself as some kind of giant-killing David, pitted against Goliaths," she wrote. But on game day, she said, "my heart thumped in my chest, but I tried to ignore it...I looked in the mirror and gave myself a quick pep talk."

She came in third, behind the only contestant to even come close to beating Holzhauer.

Despite Holzhauer closing in on Ken Jennings' 15-year record for highest regular season winnings, Jennings said he admires how Holzhauer is changing the game by aggressively wagering and playing the board from the bottom up.

Jennings wrote in a Washington Post op-ed, "I may hold a bunch of 'Jeopardy!' records, but at heart, I'm just a fan of the show. And for any real 'Jeopardy!' fan, this streak is something special."

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