Seth Wilson’s Jeopardy Statistics
Seth Wilson started his Jeopardy run on September 19th. He became our first 3-day champ in Season 33 on September 21st. Seth made some big bets in Final Jeopardy in those first 3 games and there was some speculation that betting a lot would do him in. In his 4th game, he had a runaway and got the final wrong. But surprise! he didn’t bet anything. His betting was very cautious for the rest of his run which saw him win 12 games.
Seth is now No. 5 in Jeopardy’s Hall of Fame for most consecutive wins, right between Matt Jackson and Arthur Chu. Here is a table with quick statistics on all of Seth’s matches.
| No | Date | Winnings | FJ Bet | DD 1 | DD 2 | DD 3 |
| 1 | 09/19/16 | $29,800 | +14,900 | +2,000 | N/A | -2,500 |
| 2 | 09/20/16 | $31,200 | +15,600 | +3,400 (TDD) | N/A | N/A |
| 3 | 09/21/16 | $22,800 | +10,000 | +2,000 | +3,000 | N/A |
| 4 | 09/22/16 | $22,000 (R) | -0 | +2,600 (TDD) | -2,000 | -2,000 |
| 5 | 9/23/16 | $21,900 | -0 | +1,500 | +2,000 | N/A |
| 6 | 9/26/16 | $26,000 (R) | +600 | N/A | +2,000 | +200 |
| 7 | 9/27/16 | $12,800 | -$3,000 | N/A | +2,000 | N/A |
| 8 | 9/28/16 | $25,201 | +7,601 | N/A | N/A | +2,000 |
| 9 | 9/29/16 | $18,100 | +4,000 | N/A | N/A | -1,500 |
| 10 | 9/30/16 | $22,000 (R) | -4,000 | +1,600 (TDD) | +3,200 | +2,000 |
| 11 | 10/03/16 | $13,201 | +1,601 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 12 | 10/4/16 | $20,000 (R) | +600 | +1,800 (TDD) | N/A | -2,000 |
| Total Winnings | $265,002 | |||||
| No | Date | Final Score | FJ Bet | DD 1 | DD 2 | DD 3 |
| 13 | 10/5/16 | $19,005 | +5 | -1,000 | +2,000 | N/A |
That (R) after the winnings means he already had a runaway going into Final Jeopardy! TDD = True Daily Double. The dates link to the game recaps.
Seth won a total of $265,002 in the 12 games where he emerged the victor. In the last game, although he went into Final Jeopardy! in the lead with $19,000, he made a wee wager. That cost him the game, even though he had the correct response to the final.
He finished in second place so he did get another $2,000 but it’s not really considered “winnings” because he did not win the game.
More game-by-game stats of players who won 10 or more games
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Does a winner like Seth actually get to take home the highest amount in his case 265K or does he forfeit it all by losing the last game ??
Hi Harmien — Seth gets to take home all his winnings plus the $2,000 second place prize in his last game. I read somewhere that Jeopardy! takes out California state tax before they send the checks out. Can’t find that right now but here’s a link to an article that mentions it and talks about other local and federal taxes :
The Surprising Truth about Winning Big on a Game Show
Isn’t Dave Madden a 19-day winner?
@Mary — Yes, he is a 19-game winner, but I didn’t see his games and didn’t do a chart on them.
That’s too bad. He was incredible.
Nice format vj. Thanks for the data. You put a lot of time and patience into gathering this information.
If I made any boo boos on this, let me know. You guys know I’m mathematically challenged 🙂