Did Jeopardy! Winner James Holzhauer Lose on PURPOSE?

After 32 consecutive victories, Jeopardy! Champion James Holzhauer's winning streak finally comes to an end. But some including myself are wondering, DID HE LOSE ON PURPOSE?

Holzhauer's win streak in nothing short of impressive. With over $2.4 Million in winnings he only missed the record set by former Champion Ken Jennings by $60,000! Can you believe it? Well for some reason I can't.

During his Championship tenure, Holzhauer had become known as 'The Gambler', holding the single game winnings record of $131,127. Like his record-holding predecessor Jennings, who won over $2.5 Million in 74 games, James tailored his strategy on betting big or going home!

But during the final round of his last game, James 'The Gambler' decided to play it safe and wagered an unusually SMALL amount of only around $1300, while the other 2 contestant bet almost everything they had (over $20K each)! This is where things start to look a little fishy.

Some say Holzhauer, probably wasn't sure that he had the correct answer and 'Gambled' on maybe the other 2 didn't know it either. But at this level of the game, one would have to assumed that at least ONE of the other contestants might know the answer.

Also, since it was the FINAL question of the game, why NOT wager everything? Even if you DIDN'T know the answer, and the other two did, at least you'd go out swinging, and not in an anti-climactic, air-out-of-the-balloon, whimper.

My theory is that there was some kind of back room deal to keep the record in tact. Whether it was the idea of former winner Ken Jennings, to keep his record; the Jeopardy! team in order to build drama and boost ratings; or maybe James was tired of the circus, decided he'd proved his point and just wanted to go home - that's for you to decided.

Take a look at Holzhauer's final episode and see if YOU think he decided to throw in the towel or if he legitimately lost.