Arthur Chu

Chu spent a great deal of time preparing in the month before his first appearance on Jeopardy! He studied tapes of former Jeopardy! contestants and created study guides based on the advice of Roger Craig. He also read about game theory and Jeopardy! strategy online.[4] As a student at Swarthmore College, he also played quiz bowl, in which he has said he was an aggressive player despite having limited knowledge.[5]

Chu made his debut as a contestant on the January 28, 2014, episode of Jeopardy!, winning $37,200 in his first game.[6] On the January 29 episode, Chu made a Final Jeopardy! wager that caused him to tie fellow contestant Carolyn Collins. Chu claimed that he made the decision to wager for a tie not out of kindness but because of the advice of 2003 College champion Keith Williams, who claims that game theory favors wagering for a tie over the more common practice of wagering to win by a dollar.[7] Chu defeated Collins on the January 30 episode.[8]

After a three-week airtime break, he became eligible for the Tournament of Champions on February 24 when he won for the fifth time; his total winnings were $123,600. On February 26, he became the ninth biggest all-time Jeopardy! winner, with a total of $180,000.[9][10] The next day, he jumped to third, with a total of $238,200.[9][10]

Chu won his eleventh and final game on March 11, bringing his total to $297,200. His streak ended on March 12 when he was defeated by Diana Peloquin. He ended up in third place after losing his entire score in Final Jeopardy![11] His third-place earnings of $1,000 brought his ultimate winnings to $298,200,[12][n 1] putting him at third place on the list of all-time highest-earning Jeopardy! champions, behind Ken Jennings and David Madden.[9] He also held the third-longest winning streak in the series' history, behind the same two gentlemen.[1]

Chu's 11-show winning streak was later passed by Julia Collins (20 wins in 2014), Matt Jackson (13, 2015), Seth Wilson (12, 2016), Austin Rogers (12, 2017), James Holzhauer (32, 2019), and Jason Zuffranieri (19, 2019) pushing Chu's streak to the ninth-longest in Jeopardy! history. Collins, Jackson, Rogers, Holzhauer, and Zuffranieri also surpassed Chu's total winnings, pushing Chu to eighth place in all-time regular play earnings.

After his initial appearance on the show, Chu competed in the 2014 Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions, where he finished second to Ben Ingram, an IT consultant from South Carolina. Chu won $100,000 for his second-place finish, bringing his overall winnings to $398,200.[14]

Throughout Chu's 11-game streak, his aggressive style of play attracted criticism among fans of the series, some of whom considered his conduct to be unsportsmanlike and against the spirit of Jeopardy! His strategy earned him the nickname the "Jeopardy! Villain", a nickname Chu fully embraced.[15] One of the most common complaints about his playing style was that he jumped from category to category, a strategy known as the "Forrest Bounce", after former champion Chuck Forrest. The Forrest Bounce is a somewhat common strategy, however, employed by several successful other champions including Brad Rutter and James Holzhauer who, like Chu, used it to increase their odds of finding Daily Doubles first.[16] Inspired by Watson, a computer that was programmed to play Jeopardy!, Chu picked high-value clues first, because they are more likely to be Daily Doubles.[1] In his second game, Chu wagered $5 on a Daily Double and responded "I don't know" immediately after the clue was given.[16]

Chu also held the buzzer close to the microphone, resulting in audible clicks when signaling,[17] and upon correctly answering a question, rushed quickly to the next clue. This gamesmanship, the resulting criticism and his engagement with critics on Twitter during airings of his shows led some to declare his run akin to a "Moneyball" moment, and Chu himself "ruthless" and "idol-killingly pragmatic".[18]

In response, both Trebek and Jennings have defended Chu as a "good player" who makes the game "more exciting".[19][20] In a 2018 interview, Trebek admitted that Chu's use of the Forrest Bounce could be irritating when it disrupted the flow of the game, although he also praised Chu and said, "as the impartial host I accept disorder."[21]