Jeopardy! star Drew Basile reveals which champs he will study for Tournament of Champions after devastating loss

JEOPARDY! star Drew Basile has shared which past champs’ game he’ll be studying before Tournament of Champions.

The Survivor alum’s win streak came to a shocking end after seven games.

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Jeopardy! champ Drew Basile, seen above on the set of the game show, his seven-game win streak endedCredit: Jeopardy!

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He will appear on Tournament of Champions, hosted by Ken Jennings, seen on the Jeopardy! Masters setCredit: Getty
Drew’s win streak ended on Friday – his eighth appearance on the show – when he gave the wrong answer in Final Jeopardy.

While his run is over, the reality star has plenty to look forward to, he told Entertainment Weekly.

“The run has come to an end, so it’s a little bit less exciting now,” he told the outlet.

“But I get to play again, so I’ve taken the loss in stride. I’m excited to be back there on the Alex Trebek stage sometime in the near future.”

After winning seven straight games, Drew has qualified for Tournament of Champions.

“It feels awesome, I’m looking forward [to] that. On another level, though, I am a competitor, I love to win, and the Tournament of Champions offers not just another opportunity to compete, but an opportunity to compete at the highest level,” he said.

“And that’s something that really appeals to me. I honestly feel more motivated to do the Tournament of Champions, to play against the best of the best, to see Adriana [Harmeyer] again, than I did to even play Jeopardy! the first time,” he added, referring to Adriana Harmeyer, whose own streak was ended by Drew.

Ahead of Tournament of Champions, Drew has a strategy.

He intends to study the gameplay of past stars, confessing that he wasn’t as prepared for Jeopardy! as he could have been.

“I didn’t really pay enough attention to the structure of Jeopardy clues, the grammar of Jeopardy!, so Final Jeopardy was a weak point,” he admitted.

Jeopardy! star Drew Basile suffers shocking defeat & fans spot the ‘reason’ his 7-game winning streak came to abrupt end
“Going back, I’m really going to spend a lot of time watching the show, paying attention to the way that those Final Jeopardy clues are structured. Pop culture is a weakness for me, so I’m going to tune into the new pop culture Jeopardy on Amazon, for sure.

“It’s going to boil down to a lot of flashcards, a lot of rewatching older material, and I’m going to pick a few all star names, like, of course, James Holzhauer, Victoria [Groce], Yogesh [Raut], and study how they play and what they do, to take cues from that.”

James Holzhauer won 32 straight games on Jeopardy!, while Victoria Groce won Jeopardy! Masters.

“I’m not going to pretend I’m the best person to play Jeopardy!, or I even could become the best person to play Jeopardy!. But I’m fortunate enough to be able to look at the best anytime I want, so I’m going to take cues from them,” he added.

FINAL FLOP

Jeopardy! Host Timeline

Jeopardy! has had a tumultuous history regarding hosts after the death of the iconic Alex Trebek in 2020. Here are all of the hosts since the game show’s inception in 1964.

Art Fleming – 1964 to 1975, he was the original host of the daytime version of Jeopardy! on NBC.

Alex Trebek – 1984 to 2020, the late, great Alex hosted Jeopardy!’s modern iteration for 36 years until his death from pancreatic cancer.

Guest hosts – 2020 to 2021, Jeopardy! tested out a series of guest hosts for week or two-week stints, including Anderson Cooper, LaVar Burton, and Aaron Rodgers.

Mike Richards – 2021, he was named host for one week before resigning amid controversy. He was the show’s executive producer at the time.

Mayim Bialik – 2021 to 2023, when Mike was announced as the show’s new host, Mayim was chosen to host tournaments and primetime specials.

Mayim and Ken Jennings – 2022 to 2023, 74-time champion Ken (the longest-winning contestant ever) joined Mayim as a guest host and they split hosting duties.

Ken Jennings – 2023 to present. Last December, Mayim announced on Instagram that she would “no longer” host Jeopardy! after a lengthy hiatus, having stood with the writer’s strike, and Ken was named sole host.

Ken now helms all editions of Jeopardy! including Celebrity Jeopardy!, the nightly show, and other primetime specials like Masters.

After losing in Final Jeopardy on Friday, Drew confessed that he wasn’t at the top of his game at the time.

He noted that he was “fatigued” by the end of each day of taping, which led him to make mistakes.

“The amazing thing about Final Jeopardy was I knew the answer. I knew it was Helen Keller, and I was so exhausted I couldn’t remember the name,” he shared.

“I knew I got it wrong. I was just so tired, for the life of me I couldn’t remember Helen Keller’s name. That comes down to a little bit of youth.”

“That comes down to inexperience. And hopefully with a little bit of more practice, that’s a correctable mistake,” Dew continued.

He lost to Jeopardy! newbie Cat Pisacano, who also beat out their other competitor, Andrew Fox.

Fans predicted that exhaustion played a role in Drew’s loss.

He held the lead during Double Jeopardy!.

“I suspect Drew was just fatigued,” one person wrote in a Jeopardy! thread online.

“It just felt like the long filming day got to him,” echoed another.

“Am I the only one who thought [the Final Jeopardy] was the easiest question, and was thoroughly SHOCKED Drew missed it??” questioned a third.

“I was shocked by his play the entire game,” a fourth fan added.

Other viewers were disappointed with the outcome, as they were rooting for the Pennsylvania native to get another win under his belt.

Drew walked away with $129,601 and an opportunity to compete on Tournament of Champions.

A date for Tournament of Champions has yet to be announced.

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Drew Basile, seen in a still from Jeopardy!, lost on June 29 when he answered Final Jeopardy incorrectlyCredit: Jeopardy!

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Drew Basile (not pictured) has said he plans to study the gameplay of past champions, including James Holzhaur, seen above on set, before Tournament of ChampionsCredit: Getty

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Drew Basile, seen on Jeopardy, has blamed exhaustion for his lossCredit: Jeopardy!