LOS ANGELES — The reign of the winningest female contestant in “Jeopardy!” history has come to an end.
Julia Collins, 31, lost during her 21st appearance on the pre-taped episode that aired Monday. The Chicago-area resident accumulated a total of $428,100 during her 20 victories on the syndicated series.
Additional Images
Collins was vanquished by Brian Loughnane, an investment operations manager from Scituate, Massachusetts. Collins went into the final-question showdown in second place, bet everything and lost it.
Loughnane, who is from Ireland, won $22,600.
The clue that stumped her: The New England writer who in 1999 became the last person to win an Oscar for adapting his own novel as a screenplay. She failed to answer with the correct question: Who is John Irving? His novel and film are titled “The Cider House Rules.”
Monday’s game overall “just didn’t go my way,” Collins said in a phone interview, adding, “I couldn’t have loved being on the show more.”
Host Alex Trebek’s salute to Collins after her streak ended: “Well done, young lady.”
Collins said she was glad her record might serve as an example of female achievement.
“If it helps dispel the idea that women aren’t as good ‘Jeopardy!’ players as men, that would be great,” she said. “It’s good to see women being applauded for being smart.”
Her winnings helped finance a dream trip to Paris, where she rented an apartment for a month. Some may fund future travel adventures, Collins said.
The management consultant said she plans to get back into the work world.
Collins holds the No. 2 spot for most consecutive wins behind all-time champ Ken Jennings. He won 74 straight games in season 21 for a total prize of $2.5 million.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.