Here Are The Craziest Conspiracy Theories About Why James Holzhauer’s ‘Jeopardy!’ Run Came To An End

James Holzhauer‘s run of 32 straight wins on Jeopardy!, with winnings totaling $2,487,015 (good for second all-time in the Alex Trebek-hosted trivia show’s history, behind only Ken Jennings), came to an end on Monday.

He was upset by Emma Boettcher, who “dominated her warmup games that day, and I knew she would make an extremely tough challenger,” said Holzhauer in a statement. “I was still incredibly impressed by her courage on that ‘True Daily Double.’ I’m proud that it took a top-level player at her absolute best to eliminate me.” Unlike the episode’s third contestant, Jay. That hack.

Anyway, unlike previous episodes, Holzhauer placed a small bet in Final Jeopardy, for reasons explained here, which led to speculation from viewers that the professional sports gambler was throwing the game. It can’t just be that he was beat by someone else — instead, as one conspiracy theory goes, he lost because his “daughter wanted him to come home & the thank you card she made #AlexTrebek sends us the biggest lesson of all: money isn’t everything.” This is in reference to Holzhauer tweeting that “my kid cried about the possibility of her dad losing, so I told her we could have a party the day after it inevitably happens. Now she cries when I win,” and a very endearing “get well” card.

Holzhauer’s response to this bit of speculation: “Sure, I could stick around and play a game that pays me $150,000 per hour, but I’d really rather get toys thrown at my crotch for free.” Here are some of the other, more wild theories.

— James Holzhauer (@James_Holzhauer) June 4, 2019

Was #JeopardyJames cheating and Sony found out about it and forced him to take a fall His wager made no sense. He didn’t say a word in the contestant interview. A scandal like that would have taken down the show. #JeopardyConspiracy

— Dave Ramos (@daveramos) June 4, 2019

hot take conspiracy theory. james got bored winning jeopardy all the time and just took a dive

— E-Dub (@EvSynWilliams) June 3, 2019

James Holzhauer quit. He saw someone who had a reasonable shot of stopping him for the first time ever and he bowed out gracefully. That's my theory based on that really anemic FJ wager. #Jeopardy

— Anthony Duncan (@NerdyLadd) June 4, 2019

Conspiracy Theory… James Holzhauer was presented with an offer her couldn't refuse to lose on #Jeopardy! He was bleeding Jeopardy dry. Plus Ken Jennings wasn't happy with him. #Jeopardy isn't what it seems to be. Now the question is who and how much!!!!!

— ccarlson43213 (@ccarlson43213) June 3, 2019

My theory: James lost on purpose because he had someone bet huge against him beating Ken’s record in Vegas #conspiracytheory #jeopardy @KenJennings @James_Holzhauer

— Colin Mack (@colin_mack) June 4, 2019

Let's start the conspiracy train!

Because there's no way to promote the result without giving it away, did #Jeopardy secretly leak the footage itself yesterday to jack up viewership for James' last game tonight

— Mike Janela (@MikeJanela) June 3, 2019

I’m not one for conspiracy but Jeopardy seemed to not want James to pass Ken. These were two of the toughest competitors we’ve seen, Alex basically forces the woman to correctly bet it all, and the FJ category was Shakespeare which James doesn’t do well on.

— Mustache Bill (@andnowpearljam) June 3, 2019

James Holzhauer's loss on Jeopardy looked rigged.

On Final #Jeopardy he bet less than the leader's leading margin. Had she wagered 0, she'd still have won. Also, she'd have known he'd get Final Jeopardy correct, yet did not bet enough to beat him, had he bet everything. Hmmm.

— Sports Niagara-AG (@SportsNiagara) June 4, 2019

James completely threw the game! The question is… was he paid off Did he get homesick and just want to be done Was he drunk There’s a conspiracy here one way or another. His wager in that situation was perplexing… #Jeopardy

— Cory Durbin (@TheRealDurbs) June 4, 2019

I'll add my own Jeopardy James conspiracy theory – he's about to get handsomely paid in some way, shape or form and had to bow out of Jeopardy now…

— Kevin Payne (@KCPayne26) June 4, 2019

Well I think the whole thing was fixed but I hope I'm wrong..I just thought with the Bad news about Alex Trebek they wanted to give the show some new attention again just me with my conspiracy theories. #Jeopardy #AlexTrebek

— Milton Ousland (@NYYCOWBELLMAN) June 3, 2019

I'm not saying conspiracy theories are real or that I believe in them, and I'm also not saying that it was just a coincidence that the Final Jeopardy question in the game that ended James' streak was on Shakespeare – a subject on which the winner wrote her undergrad thesis.

— M Trav (@ItsMe_Teezy) June 4, 2019

Or maybe it was the most simple explanation of all.

— Shealyn O'Halloran (@sheangles) June 3, 2019

Holzhauer probably wanted to relate to that Weird Al song, too.