Greg Shahade Ends Jamie Ding’s 31-Game Jeopardy! Run

greg shahade ended Jamie Ding’s 31-game winning streak on Jeopardy! on Monday night, beating the champion by $13,990. The Rittenhouse Square resident and chess master walked away with the upset after entering the game as a first-time contestant against one of the show’s biggest active winners.

Ding had close to $900,000 in winnings before the loss. Shahade said he had no issues with the buzzer, but he was very, very nervous.

Shahade’s road to the podium

Shahade said, “I got into trivia late in life, like a few years ago.” He took the online Jeopardy! test a few times before getting invited to do a second test in August 2024 and then being invited to be on the show in January.

His chess background helped define the profile he brought to the stage. “I’m an International Master at chess, which is one level under Grandmaster,” he said.

Jeopardy! taped day pressure

Jeopardy! tapes five shows in a day, and Shahade got drawn for the first game of the taping day. That meant the result came at the start of a full production run, with the contestants already having gone through a practice round before taping.

He also pointed to how quickly the game can turn. “there’s an alternate universe where I show up and get totally crushed.” That is the part of the result that lands hardest: Ding’s run ended by a relatively narrow margin, not a runaway score, and Shahade’s win came in the first slot of a five-show taping day.

Jamie Ding’s streak ends

Ding’s 31-game run had already pushed him into rare territory before Shahade stopped it. The loss leaves the streak at 31, with the margin locked at $13,990 and the champion’s winnings sitting just shy of $900,000.

For Shahade, the win turns a late-entry trivia path into a headline result. For Ding, it closes out one of the show’s longest winning stretches with a single game that finally went the other way.