JEOPARDY quiz king James Holzhauer was crowned the show’s Tournament of Champions winner on Friday – scooping the $250,000 jackpot.
Pro-gambler James, 35, had to defeat the contestant who ended his 35-game streak this summer in the nerve-racking final show.
Over the two-night final, Holzhauer — a 35-year-old from Las Vegas — faced off against Emma Boettcher.
Holzhauer and Boettcher, 27-year-old librarian from Chicago who famously beat him on June 3, were also joined by Francois Barcomb.
Barcomb, a 50-year-old physics teacher from New Paltz, New York, had won the Teachers’ Tournament to make it to the Tournament of Champions.
On Thursday night, at the end of the first half of the Tournament of Champions final, Holzhauer led with $49,326 – while Boettcher trailed with $26,400 and Barcomb tallied $1,800.
TENSE FINAL
But in the tense second-part face-off on Friday night, Boettcher led the field going into final Jeopardy – with $21,600 to Holzhauer’s $17,785 and Barcomb’s $1,600.
All three contestants got the Final Jeopardy clue correct, and Boettcher emerged the victor of night 2 with $38,600.
Holzhauer ended night 2 with $27,597 and Barcomb with $3,200.
But when Thursday night’s totals were added in, Holzhauer came out on top.
His podium read $76,923, while Boettcher’s flashed $65,000 and Barcomb’s $5,000.
HUGE WINNINGS
Holzhauer winnings now total $2,712,216.
He has notched the third-highest total in “Jeopardy!” history, trailing only Ken Jennings’ $3,370,700 – won over a record 74 straight regular-season victories plus tournament winnings – and Brad Rutter’s $4,688,436.
Holzhauer, who has talked jokingly about “payback” in promotional videos posted on Twitter, complimented Boettcher on her performance in the finals.
He said: “I’ve said all along that Emma is an all-time great player, and I’m proud it took that level of competitor to defeat me.
“Now the world sees that I wasn’t just making excuses.
“Francois certainly looked as dominant as either of us in his first two games, so I knew the finals would be a fight to the finish.
“But the whole point of the TOC is to play the best of the best, and Emma and Francois certainly proved that they belonged in the final three.”
RUNNERS-UP
Boettcher nabbed the Tournament of Champions second-place pot of $100,000 – essentially doubling her regular-season earnings.
Barcomb left the stage with an additional $50,000 in his wallet.
Holzhauer has donated to various charitable causes with his regular-season winnings and continues to work as a sports gambler.
In 2012, Holzhauer, 35, married Melissa Sassin and they have a 5-year-old daughter, Natasha.
He often references his daughter on the show – once showing the audience a card she drew and using a variation of her birth date as a wager.
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It was an emotional tournament for legendary host Alex Trebek, who is fighting stage 4 pancreatic cancer.
In a semifinal round earlier this week, Dhruv Gaur of Brown University – who won the College Tournament last year – scrawled a touching note on his podium screen during Final Jeopardy.
Trebek, 79, held back tears when he read Gaur’s answer: “What is ‘We [love] you, Alex!,’” with a heart standing in for the word “love.”
Parts of this article originally appeared on the New York Post