'Jeopardy!' legend Cris Pannullo falls in first round of Tournament of Champions

Cris Pannullo, the "Jeopardy!" juggernaut from Ocean City who won 21-straight games in 2022, made his highly anticipated debut in the show's Tournament of Champions on Monday. But it didn't go how fans expected.

In the quarterfinal round, Pannullo faced Ben Goldstein, a five-game champion from Michigan, and Jared Watson, a three-game champion from Texas. Despite Pannullo's status as one of the top "Jeopardy!" players of all time, he ended the game in third place. Watson pulled out a decisive victory.

MORE: Joey Graziadei chooses his top 4 contestants in latest episode of 'The Bachelor'

Throughout his impressive run two years ago, Pannullo, a customer success operations manager and former professional poker player, amassed $748,286 in winnings, including earning $1,000 in his run-stopping final appearance. According to the "Jeopardy!" Leaderboard of Legends, Pannullo holds the fifth-highest winnings in regular-season play and the sixth-highest consecutive games won. He also has the eighth-highest all-time winnings in "Jeopardy!" history.

During his "Jeopardy!" reign, Pannullo displayed a talent for finding Daily Doubles and placing large wagers that would distance him from other contestants early in the game. But Pannullo didn't find any Daily Doubles during Monday's game. Watson, a quality control specialist, found all three. This, coupled with a few uncharacteristically flubbed clues by Pannullo, led to the South Jersey game show juggernaut's downfall. 

Pannullo was tied with Watson for first place at the end of the first round. But Watson soared ahead in the Double Jeopardy! round, ending with $32,200 compared with Pannullo's $14,000. Then in Final Jeopardy!, Pannullo fumbled the clue, which was in the Art History category, and lost all of his earnings. Watson got the clue correct, but it didn't matter since he wagered $0 anyway. 

"What is even happening right now?," Watson asked in disbelief.

Pannullo finished in third and walked away with $5,000. Watson becomes the second semifinalist in the tournament, joining Emily Sands — a project manager from Minnesota who earned a spot in the tournament through the Champions Wildcard competition and won in the first quarterfinal game Friday.

On social media, fans expressed their shock at the upset. With 21 wins in regular-season play, Pannullo had the most consecutive wins by far of any of the competitors. The player with the second-most wins is Ray Lalonde, a 13-game champion from Toronto.

Host Ken Jennings chalked up Pannullo's surprising loss to the unpredictable nature of the tournament.

"Big upsets like that are gonna happen," Jennings said Monday.

With Pannullo making an early exit, another local contestant will have to carry the torch in this tournament. Melissa Klapper, a Rowan University professor and Merion Station resident, will make her tournament debut Monday, March 4. She will face actor Ike Barinholtz, who won Season 1 of "Celebrity Jeopardy!," and Lalonde.

Klapper, the coordinator of Rowan's women's and gender studies program and a history professor at the South Jersey university, won her first "Jeopardy!" match in March by just $1. She went on to win three games overall and earn $59,100, including $1,000 for finishing in third during her last appearance.

This year's Tournament of Champions features 27 contestants — the largest amount in the tournament's history. The roster included the players who won the most games since the last Tournament of Champions in 2022. It also features six players who advanced out of the most recent Champions Wildcard competitions, and the winners of the "Jeopardy!" High School Reunion Tournament and "Celebrity Jeopardy!" Season 1 champion Barinholtz.

These players will compete across nine quarterfinal games, three semifinals and a best-of-seven finals series. The overall winner will claim the $250,000 grand prize and earn an invitation to compete in the upcoming "Jeopardy! Masters" event. 

While Pannullo may not qualify for that illustrious event this year, he was chosen as an alternate during the last Masters competition. He described his experience to Jennings on Monday.

"For people who don't know, every tournament has an alternate," Pannullo said. "I was fortunate enough to be the alternate at 'Jeopardy! Masters' and it was incredible to meet all the masters. ... It's just, it was a dream. It was like 'Jeopardy!' fantasy camp."

"Jeopardy!" airs weeknights at 7 p.m. on ABC.