Twenty-one games
A Jeopardy! streak is a compounding problem. Every night the champion faces two fresh challengers who have studied the same board, and a single buzzer rhythm or one bad Final Jeopardy! wager ends everything. Pannullo did it twenty-one times in a row.
The show tracked the run as it happened. Jeopardy!'s own J!Buzz declared him an eleven-game super-champion on 14 October 2022; by the time the streak ended he had nearly doubled that and banked $748,286.
The night it ended
On the episode reported on 6 December 2022 he was beaten by Andy Tirrell, who finished on $15,399, with Meghan Mello also at the podium. The decisive moment came in Double Jeopardy!, where Pannullo missed a Daily Double he had wagered $6,600 on.
J!Buzz went back to Tirrell the following week to publish the challenger's account of taking down a super-champion — an acknowledgement that beating a 21-game winner is itself a notable result rather than a routine one. Champions are usually the story; on that night the man who ended the run became one.
What he said about luck
Pannullo's own analysis was unsentimental. Any one of the Daily Doubles that I bet big on like today, I could have gotten wrong, he said. It could have been the end. It could have happened in Game 1; it could have happened in Game 3.
His conclusion: to go 20-plus games is like the greatest streak of luck I'll ever have in my life. That is a more accurate description of the format than most champions offer. Aggressive Daily Double wagering is what builds a runaway lead, and it is the same mechanism that removes you.
Where the streak ranks
Twenty-one straight wins placed him sixth on the show's all-time consecutive-wins leaderboard and fifth for regular-season winnings. It also qualified him for the next Tournament of Champions, the invitational the show holds for its strongest players.
The ranking is the clearest measure of scarcity available: sixth place means that in the entire history of the programme only five players had ever put together a longer run. A streak of that length tests breadth of knowledge, buzzer timing and nerve across weeks of taping, against a new pair of opponents every single night.
What is documented — and what is not
Documented by the show's own coverage: the 21 wins, the $748,286, his home town of Ocean City, New Jersey, his job title, his leaderboard positions, the identity of the player who beat him, the $6,600 Daily Double that ended the run, and his quotes about it.
Not documented in these sources: his age, his education, his family, his Tournament of Champions result and what he is doing now. The research record also notes that his winnings and occupation appear in Wikipedia's list of Jeopardy! contestants, and recommends adding independent New Jersey news coverage to the file. Everything above comes from the programme's own reporting, which is authoritative on results and silent on the man.
Watch: Cris Pannullo on camera
| Person | Country | Milestone | Age / Stat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Emma Boettcher | United States | Ending James Holzhauer's 32-game Jeopardy! streak | Age 27 |
| Cindy Stowell | United States | She taped six winning games with stage 4 cancer, and died before the first | Age 41 |
| Jason Zuffranieri | United States | A maths teacher from Albuquerque won nineteen games in a row and half a mi | Age 43 |
| Cris Pannullo | United States | Winning 21 consecutive games of Jeopardy! | — |
| Ray Lalonde | Canada | Winning 12 consecutive games of Jeopardy! in December 2022 | — |
What is documented — and what is not
✓ Documented
- He won 21 consecutive games of Jeopardy! and $748,286 in 2022.
- He is from Ocean City, New Jersey, and worked as a customer success operations manager.
- The streak ended on 6 December 2022 when Andy Tirrell won with $15,399.
- He ranked sixth for consecutive wins and fifth for regular-season winnings, and qualified for the Tournament of Champions.
? Unverified, disputed or wrong
- His age, birth year and education.
- His result in the Tournament of Champions.
- What he has done since 2022.
- Independent local news coverage to corroborate the show's own reporting.
Questions people ask about Cris Pannullo
How many games did Cris Pannullo win?
Twenty-one consecutive games of Jeopardy!, between October and December 2022.
How much did Cris Pannullo win?
$748,286 across the streak — fifth on the show's all-time list for regular-season winnings at the time.
Who beat Cris Pannullo?
Andy Tirrell, who finished the 6 December 2022 game on $15,399. Meghan Mello was the third player.
How did the streak end?
He missed a Daily Double in Double Jeopardy! on which he had wagered $6,600 — the aggressive wagering that had built his earlier leads.
What does Cris Pannullo do for a living?
He was a customer success operations manager from Ocean City, New Jersey, when he appeared on the show.
Where does he rank among Jeopardy! champions?
Sixth for consecutive games won and fifth for regular-season winnings, according to the show's own account of the streak.
Did he play in the Tournament of Champions?
The streak qualified him for the next tournament. The sources used here do not report how he did in it.
How old is Cris Pannullo?
The sources used here do not give his age or birth year.
Quick quiz: how well do you know Pannullo’s story?
How many straight games did Cris Pannullo win?
How much did he win in total?
What ended his streak?
Sources
- Jeopardy! Super-Champion Cris Pannullo's Streak Ends With 21 Wins — Jeopardy.com (J!Buzz), 2022-12-06
- Cris Pannullo is an 11-Game Jeopardy! Super-Champion — Jeopardy.com (J!Buzz), 2022-10-14
- Andy Tirrell Discusses Taking Down Super-Champion Cris Pannullo — Jeopardy.com (J!Buzz), 2022-12-12
Checked by the Geniuses.club editorial team. Ages are given as of September 2026.
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