UNC alumna Emma Boettcher defeated Jeopardy record-setter James Holzhauer

Tuesday, June 4, 2019
Jeopardy champion Emma Boettcher earned masters from UNC
Jeopardy champion James Holzhauer faced off against a librarian who earned her masters at the University of North Carolina.

NAPERVILLE, Ill. (WTVD) -- Jeopardy champion James Holzhauer faced off against a librarian who earned her masters at the University of North Carolina.



Holzhauer's amazing streak ended at 33 games, and also short of the all-time consecutive Jeopardy earnings leader, Ken Jennings, by $58,000. He was bested by Emma Boettcher.



Boettcher is from just outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 2016, she earned her masters degree from UNC's School of Information and Library Science.



Her 70-page thesis at UNC was about whether a computer could correctly predict a trivia question's difficulty using wording or question length. To research her paper, she painstakingly analyzed Jeopardy clues.





Boettcher is currently a User Experience Resident Librarian at the University of Chicago--and now one of the most famous librarians in the world.





"I don't necessarily like defining myself as someone that's defeated someone else, but to say that I've won a game of Jeopardy, no matter who against, is just incredible," Boettcher said.



After she beat Holzhauer, he rushed to her and gave her a high-five.



"One thing that makes me really happy is that I didn't beat myself," Holzhauer said after the show. "I lost to an elite player playing a near-perfect game."



At a watch party in Naperville, Illinois, though, his family remained proud of him.


"Emma played a great game. What a great player. I hope that she goes on and wins 33 games," said Ian Holzhauer, James' brother



All-time regular season record holder Ken Jennings tweeted about Holzhauer's defeat Monday evening.





It is very likely Holzhauer and Jennings could meet one day in a Tournament of Champions.

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