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Season 39 of Jeopardy! is all set to return to Alex Trebek’s stage after taking a over-a-month break due to the Second Chance Tournament and Tournament of Champions.
The latest season went on a break on Friday, October 14, 2022, where Cris Pannullo was the winner. He has won 11 games so far and will return to the show to defend his title on Tuesday, November 22, 2022.
Cris first appeared in season 39 on September 30, 2022, where he defeated four-day winner David Sibley. Since then, he has bagged 11 wins and banked $3,56,702.
Cris is a customer success operations manager from Ocean City, New Jersey.
Jeopardy! is not Cris Pannullo’s first television game show
On October 23, 2018, Cris Pannullo appeared on the US version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?. However, his stint on the show ended the next day after he failed to correctly answer the $7,000-worth question. Cris went home winning $5,000 from Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?.
The Ocean City native decided to try his luck once again on a television game show. This time, he chose to be on the Emmy-winning longest-running series, Jeopardy!. He is the only player in season 39 who has won 11 games so far.
In an interview, Cris revealed that it was his girlfriend of ten years, Heather's idea to participate in the game show. Cris described her as a “wonderful coach and a wonderful partner, and a wonderful human being.” She apparently trained him for the competition series.
In addition to being a customer success operations manager and a brainy guy, Cris is also a former professional poker player. According to Jeopardy! host Ken Jennings, the player has used his poker skills quite successfully in the game. Ken once compared Cris to a 2019 player named James Holzhauer, who won 32 games and banked $2.46 million.
The 11-day winner lives with his girlfriend Heather and their pet rabbit named Lentils. Speaking about their pet on the show, Cris said that nearly ten years ago, Heather saw a "rabbit hopping" in their front yard and since then, they have been living "at the mercy of a bunny named Lentils.”
What is Cris planning to do with his winning money?
So far, Cris has won $3,56,702 from 11 games. In one of the Jeopardy! season 39 episodes, host Ken Jennings asked the player about his plans for the winning money.
Cris quipped:
“In this economy, Ken. I'm just throwing it all under my mattress. The hard part is going to be getting it all flat so I'm not laying on a lumpy mattress, but with some time I'll get it done.”
While the response showcased his witty side, a fellow player mentioned that Cris preferred to sit alone before each game. Sean Holloway from the October 4 episode revealed in an interview that Cris was quiet and was not in the mood to mingle with anyone before the game.
Sean said that by the time they got to rehearsal, the other contestants knew that Cris was a returning champion. Adding that the latter was incredibly nice and polite, Sean said that Cris sat "separately from everyone else." He noted that the champion was quiet and it was hard for him to get a read on Cris.
Meanwhile, the returning champion is all set to showcase his intelligence once again on Jeopardy! He will return to the syndicated game show on Tuesday, November 22, 2022.
