'Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time': Jennings, Holzhauer, Rutter react to end of GOAT tournament
Jeopardy crowned "The Greatest of All Time" on Tuesday night giving social media a lot to talk about.
Ken Jennings took the title and the $1 million prize. James Holzhauer and Brad Rutter walked away with $250,000 each.
But it wasn't just the viewers who were reacting to the game show history unfolding on primetime television. The three contestants themselves were tweeting along, too.
'Jeopardy James' spent the night sending out memes and GIFs that expressed his thoughts, including a take on "Scooby Doo's" classic endings where the criminals blamed "those meddling kids" for being caught.
Another of Holzhauer's memes portrayed Jennings as WWE Hall of Famer Bret 'The Hitman' Hart known for his catchphrase, "The best there is, the best there was, and the best there ever will be."
Holzhauer then turned a bit more sentimental and tweeted out his feelings about the show, host Alex Trebek, and his fellow quiz show buddies:
Ken has graciously said he "had to play like James to beat James," but the entire basis of my strategy was "let's pretend I'm playing against a @KenJennings every game, just in case I actually am." (In my 33rd game, #JeopardyEmma was equal to Ken on his best day.)
Thanks to @KenJennings and @BradRutter for a hell of a match. Ken and Brad are great @Jeopardy players but even better people, and have been incredibly good sports about my kayfabe feuding and trash talk.
Thanks to @ABCNetwork for taking a chance on us, to everyone on the @Jeopardy team for everything they do, and especially to Alex Trebek for gutting through the fight of his life to deliver an absolute A+ performance in prime time.
And thanks to you, the fans, for making #JeopardyGOAT a smash hit. When they put me back on TV someday, it will be your fault.
What can I say? #JeopardyJames out."
Rutter, who ended up not winning one game, went with a comical approach to congratulating Jennings, with a photo of...admiration?
And he took one final jab at Holzhauer, who taunted Rutter throughout the competition.
The GOAT, Jennings, poked fun at himself as the competition aired.
But once Trebek announced the winner, Jennings made it official on social media.
But Jennings was not boastful with his new title. In fact, he said it was a lot of luck:
If we ran this tournament back a dozen times, you'd probably see a different winner each time. Brad and James are just that good. (We will NOT be running this tournament back a dozen times.)
@James_Holzhauer is a player so dominant that, when he took on the strongest players ever in his sport, they both had to adopt his exact style of play just to contain him. THAT's a once-in-a-generation talent.
@BradRutter got some tough breaks in this tourney, but real Jeopardy-heads know him as the guy who beat me in three straight tournament finals. For over a decade, he's really had the only credible claim as the Jeopardy GOAT.
Buzzing against both of them at once was a Jeopardy nightmare, but also the best time I've ever had on TV. They're just great and, should I ever be unable to fulfill my duties, I deputize them as co-GOATs."
THROWBACK: See the moment Ken Jennings' 2004 winning streak ended
Jennings then paid homage to the creator of "Jeopardy!"
"The Greatest of All Time" finished his Twitter thread Tuesday night with a message about Trebek, the beloved "Jeopardy!" host who is battling pancreatic cancer.
