'Jeopardy!' juggernaut Cris Pannullo to compete in Tournament of Champions

Back in 2022, Cris Pannullo wowed "Jeopardy!" fans with a dominant, 21-game winning streak. The Ocean City resident soon will return to the game show to defend his claim as one of the best players of all time.

The "Jeopardy!" Tournament of Champions kicks off Friday on ABC, and the 27 contestants — the largest amount in the tournament's history — include Pannullo and Melissa Klapper, a Rowan University professor and Merion Station resident.

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Pannullo, a customer success operations manager, will begin his tournament campaign Monday, Feb. 26, by facing Ben Goldstein, a 5-game champion from Michigan, and Jared Watson, a 3-game champion from Texas. 

Pannullo's 21-game reign came to an end in Dec. 2022 after he fumbled a "Final Jeopardy!" clue about William Shakespeare's play "The Tempest." Throughout his run, Pannullo amassed $748,286 in winnings – plus $1,000 for finishing in third place during his last appearance. According to the "Jeopardy!" Leaderboard of Legends, he currently 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.

As a former professional poker player — with a talent for for finding Daily Doubles and placing large wagers that distance him from other contestants early in the game — Pannullo's success garnered him comparisons to James Holzhauer, one of the top "Jeopardy!" contestants to ever play. Pannullo even said he adopted a buzzer technique reminiscent of Holzhauer's. 

Despite Pannullo's legendary status, and the fact that most of his "Jeopardy!" appearances ended in runaway victories, he has expressed both apprehension and excitement about entering the tournament.

"I know it'll be harder this time because everyone out there for the (Tournament of Champions) is really, really good, and I'm looking forward to the challenge," Pannullo said on the "Inside Jeopardy!" podcast last summer. "I think there are some incremental improvements I can make, and I'll hopefully make those."

Pannullo also said he is "sort of dreading" facing some of the talented players in the tournament. He has the most consecutive wins by far of any of the competitors, followed by Ray Lalonde, a 13-game champion from Toronto.

Pannullo eventually could face Klapper, the coordinator of Rowan's Women's & Gender Studies Program and a history professor at the South Jersey university. She won her first "Jeopardy!" match last March by just $1, and went on to win three games overall and earn $59,100 (plus $1,000 for finishing in third place during her last appearance).

"This is the first time and the last time that some of my students think I'm cool," Klapper, who has been teaching at Rowan for more than two decades, joked to Rowan Today in March. 

In December, 6ABC surprised Klapper with a message from "Jeopardy!" host Ken Jennings, informing her that she would be going directly to the Tournament of Champions rather than going through the wildcard tournament to qualify.

Klapper will make her tournament debut on Monday, March 4. She will face actor Ike Barinholtz, who won Season 1 of "Celebrity Jeopardy!," and Lalonde.

The upcoming tournament includes the players who won the most games since the last Tournament of Champions in 2022. There was no Tournament of Champions in 2023, due to the Writers Guild of America strike.

It also features six players who advanced out of the most recent Champions Wildcard competitions, the winners of the "Jeopardy!" High School Reunion Tournament and "Celebrity Jeopardy!" Season 1 champion Barinholtz. Lisa Ann Walter, the "Abbott Elementary" star and Season 2 "Celebrity Jeopardy!" winner, won't be appearing in the tournament just yet.

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 an invitation to compete in the upcoming "Jeopardy! Masters" event.

The "Jeopardy!" Tournament of Champions quarterfinal round kicks off at 7 p.m. Friday on ABC.