Larissa Kelly
Larissa Kelly (born February 10, 1980) is an American multiple-time champion on the U.S. game show "Jeopardy!", currently resident in Richmond, California. She is a writer and academic. Biography. Kelly grew up in Newton, Massachusetts and attended Newton North High School where she helped lead the science bowl team to national competition. She graduated from Princeton University in 2002 and completed a Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkeley, studying the history of archaeology in 19th century Mexico. She played quiz bowl at both Princeton and Berkeley. On August 3, 2002, she married her quiz bowl teammate  Jeff Hoppes. On the All Star games draft show, she mentioned that her husband attended high school with Brad Rutter. She is one of three members of her family to have played on "Jeopardy!", all between 2004 and 2008, and the only winner of the three. Her husband was defeated by Ken Jennings in Jennings's 70th game as champion. Her sister Arianna was defeated in her initial "Jeopardy!" appearance, in part due to questionable calls that prompted Standards and Practices to bring her back for a second appearance; in her second appearance, Arianna was defeated by Aaron Schroeder, who  later faced Larissa in the 2009 "Jeopardy!" Tournament of Champions finals. In the 2009 "Jeopardy!" Tournament of Champions in Las Vegas, Kelly won her quarterfinal and semifinal matches and led after the first game of the two-game finals, with $24,400 to Dan Pawson's $22,301 and Schroeder's $9,600. Although she led going into Final Jeopardy! in the second game, she lost to Pawson after she incorrectly responded to the clue which required identifying George II of Great Britain as the last British ruler to be born outside the United Kingdom. She won $100,000 for  finishing second. Kelly is a science fiction author, who has had one story published at "Strange Horizons". Appearances on "Jeopardy!". Including tournament winnings, Kelly set the "Jeopardy!" record for money won by a female contestant at $660,930 and is third to Julia Collins in "Jeopardy!" winnings outside tournament play. During her regular run on "Jeopardy!", Kelly won a total of $222,597 over six games and $1,000 3rd place consolation prize in her seventh, with her last appearance airing May 28, 2008. Excluding tournament winnings, Kelly is the fourth-highest winning female contestant and ranks seventh all-time  in "Jeopardy!" earnings. While she was champion, Kelly broke Ken Jenningss record for most money won in a contestant's first five days by winning $179,797; this record was one of two Roger Craig broke during his reign as champion, as he won $195,801 in his first five games (Craig also topped Jennings's single-game record of $75,000). Kelly is also the third-highest winning female contestant in any single game in "Jeopardy!"s history. Kelly's $45,200 performance narrowly trails Maria Wenglinsky, who won $46,600 on November 1, 2005, Emma Boettcher, MacKenzie Jones, who  both won $46,801 on June 3, 2019, and February 19, 2020, respectively, and Amy Schneider, who won $50,000, $61,800, and $71,400 on November 25, 2021, December 2, 2021, and January 20, 2022, respectively. Kelly returned to participate in the "Jeopardy!" Battle of the Decades tournament in 2014, but was eliminated in the first round, winning $5,000. She also appeared on "Jeopardy!" All Star Games in February 2019, as a member of Team Brad Rutter with David Madden; her team won and split $1,000,000. Section::::"Jeopardy!" records. During her time as champion, Kelly set several records , which have since been surpassed: