By Spencer Feingold
Jeopardy contestant James Holzhauer has already won over $900,000 in his 13-game winning streak and could top $1 million in winnings on Tuesday night.
But Bob Boden, the former senior vice president of programming for the Game Show Network, said shelling out payments to Holzhauer is well worth it for Jeopardy.
“They are probably not ready for this in terms of their annual budget, but they’ll recover,” Boden told Cheddar in an interview Tuesday. “The long term benefits in terms of increased ad revenue and better ratings, it’s all worth it in the long run.”
Boden said Holzhauer’s record-breaking wins will help Jeopardy compete against other shows like Family Feud and Wheel of Fortune.
“He’s making Jeopardy history, and it is hard to make history on a show that has been on for 35 years,” Boden said.
Holzhauer has already set the record for the largest single-show winnings of $131,127. He is also getting close to challenging Jeopardy star Ken Jenning’s record of over $2.5 million in winnings.
“Jeopardy doesn't have many financial problems,” Boden said. And "this can make them more successful.”
“They will adjust their budget next season to make up for it, and there is not going to be another James for a while, so they are fine,” he added.
For full interview click here.