What is winning streak over?
Matt Jackson, the 23-year-old paralegal from Washington, D.C., relinquished his crown after losing his 14th round on ABC's iconic game show, Jeopardy! Tuesday night against competitor Michael Baker from New York City.
While it may be somewhat of a disappointment, Jackson's wallet won't be too sad. He accumulated $411,612 during his 13-round-winning streak and landed him in fourth place in the show's overall "all-time regular season money winnings" ranking.
Still, he won't be running to the bank with all that cash. Instead, he said he will donate 10 percent to charity.
Jackson quickly became an audience favorite after sporting some quirky mannerisms during competition, including shouting "BOOM!" when getting the answer right and his ability to answer the challenging trivia questions with record speed.
Though Jackson made the competition look entirely effortless—even garnering early comparison's to Ken Jennings, the show's contestant with the longest winning streak—he admitted that taping conditions are the truest test for tired contestants.
"A returning champion finds out pretty quickly that Jeopardy is actually, under the surface, an endurance contest," Jackson said in a statement. "A whole week's worth of episodes gets taped in a day, with maybe 10 minutes of rest between each episode …. A huge part of staying alive as a contestant comes down to whether you can stay alert, and a lot of people tire out quickly while the studio lights are on and adrenaline is high."
Clearly, he remained unaffected by the challenging schedule, focusing just as much on his technique as he did on his now signature soul-piercing gaze and accompanying slow motion smile into the camera lens.
While this may be the end of his winning streak on the daily show, don't cry into your pillow tonight. Jackson's high winnings qualify him to return for the Tournament of Champions, airing Nov. 9 to 20.
While we anxiously await his return, we'll be crafting a new drinking game for every time he utters the word, "BOOM!"