[RummyChick]

A lot of speculation that he threw it with detailed reasons why.

I don’t watch Jeopardy so I don’t know.

[Sans-Culotte]

A lot of speculation that he threw it with detailed reasons why.

What are some of the alleged reasons?

[cymbeline]

“I don’t watch Jeopardy”

Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune might be the only clean, non-political shows on evening TV (not counting reruns of old material).

[9YearLurker]

Interesting. Can you give a brief explanation of why?

[fightin kentuckian]

Q knows!

[b4its2late]

My guess is he threw it... if he broke the record, they would never ask him back to a regular game. Since he didn’t, they’ll get him back for another try maybe? Where else can you make $2.5 million in 34 days?

[FewsOrange]

“A lot of speculation that he threw it with detailed reasons why.”

His seemingly low bet in Final Jeopardy seems to have triggered stupid conspiracy loons who don’t understand Jeopardy wagering.

[onyx]

I don’t buy that.

James didn’t hit any of the Double Jeopardy’s in the 2nd half.

Even if James had bet his entire wad in Final Jeopardy, he would have come up $1 short.

[ssaftler]

No, he didn't "throw" it. He hit a few hiccups on the way that normally he breezed through:

1. He hit the Daily Double in Jeopardy on the FIRST clue. This kept him from betting more than $1,000. Normally, he would have built up a few thousand by the time he hit the DD, so he could have bet more.
2. Emma (the winner) hit BOTH Daily Doubles in Double Jeopardy. She went all in on the first to pass James, and padded her lead with the second, somewhat later in the round. At this point, there just wasn't enough money left on the board for James to come back.
3. The third contestant was equally good. This kept James from answering that many questions, so his bank didn't built as "usual".

As to his final bet, it was the only move he could make. I also thought it was odd, but read an explanation this morning that made it clear.

He knew that she'd bet enough to shut him out (because she could), so he bet to make sure that the third place guy didn't overtake him. This way, if Emma got the question wrong, he would still win, regardless of what the third guy did. If she answered the question correct, which she did, there was nothing James could do at this point. So, in essence, he bet to take his response out of the equation. Pretty savvy betting, in my opinion.

And, for what it's worth, the "accidental" leak of the result probably helped their ratings, since some of the regular viewers (me included) were losing interest in seeing the game decided before the individual interviews half way through the first round!

[rbg81]

I watched the game. She leapfrogged over him with one Daily Double where she bet everything (very gutsy). She then enhanced her lead with another correct DD (where she bet much less). After that, Holzhauer never caught up. In the last third of the game he looked defeated.