John Beck Rolls to Undefeated Jeopardy! Title

[Brett Ferino]

Even with bad Daily Double wagers on the part of his opponents, the outcome was never in doubt. John Beck is the newest five-time undefeated Jeopardy! champion.

Beck ran away with his fifth victory, having salted the unbeaten status away before Final Jeopardy!

With $20,000 and a lead of more than $16,000 going into the finale, the category was Fruit. Answer: from Greek for "finger," the Arabs claim it has as many culinary and pharmaceutical uses as days in a year. Correct question: what is a date?

Beck took a significant risk and added another $10,000 with his correct question to give him a runaway $30,000 in his victory.

Beck's final day gave him an overall cash total of $117,099, second-highest total (abetted by the inflated dollars format added two years ago) in the series' history.

He won a new Jaguar as his bonus prize (estimated value: $34,000) to give him overall approximate cash/prize earnings of more than $151,000. Beck also earns an automatic berth in the 2004 Tournament of Champions.