Jamie Ding's 31-Game Jeopardy Streak Ends

Jamie Ding's remarkable 31-game winning streak on Jeopardy! ended Monday during the episode that aired April 27, when he finished second to new champion Greg Shahade in a decisive runaway victory.

Shahade, a chess player from Philadelphia, entered Final Jeopardy with an insurmountable lead of 32,600, ahead of Ding's 16,000 and Katrina Puckett's 3,000. All three contestants correctly answered the "World Languages" clue: "Of South Africa's 12 official languages, these 2 are alphabetically first and last," wagering on Afrikaans and Zulu. Shahade bet conservatively at 400 to finish with 33,000. Puckett wagered 1,990 for a final score of 4,990, while Ding bet 3,010 to end at 19,010. Aware he could not catch Shahade, Ding wrote "TTFN" – ta ta for now – next to his response.

Ding, a program administrator for the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency and law student from Lawrenceville, New Jersey, had dominated since his debut on March 13. He secured most of his victories as runaways, often leveraging quick buzzer speed. Shahade turned the game with correct responses to all three Daily Doubles, including True Daily Doubles worth 7,000 and 7,600 in the second round.