Jamie Ding displays on ‘Jeopardy!’ run: ‘It’s been a wild trip’

Jamie Ding, a former Metro Detroiter who had one of many longest profitable streaks in “Jeopardy!” historical past, lastly misplaced on Monday, ending his six-week-plus reign as champ.

“It’s been a wild ride but really fun,” Ding instructed The Detroit News by cellphone after the episode. “People on the show told me that America’s going to love getting to know you, and I guess they were right.

“And the love is mutual.”

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How a lot did he win?

On Monday, Ding added one other $19,010 to his winnings, giving him a remaining whole of $901,615. He ends his run ranked fifth in each video games gained and money gained on the long-running TV recreation present.

But it was Greg Shahade, a chess participant from Philadelphia, who had all the best strikes Monday, hitting huge on all three Daily Doubles to cease Ding’s unimaginable run at 31 video games.

Shahade won Monday’s show after taking what turned out to be an insurmountable lead with back-to-back Daily Doubles in the second round. He finished the episode with $33,000. Katrina Puckett, a teacher from Washington Court House, Ohio, came in third with $4,990.

The only contestants to win more than Ding on “Jeopardy!” are James Holzhauer (32 wins, $2.4 million), Matt Amodio (38 wins, $1.5 million), Amy Schneider (40 wins, $1.3 million) and Ken Jennings (74 wins, $2.5 million).

Who is Jamie Ding?

Ding, 33, is a 2009 graduate of Grosse Pointe North High School. He was an advanced student who graduated a year early. In middle school, he competed at the national level in competitive spelling, geography and math events.

In 2013, he graduated from Princeton University with a degree in molecular biology.

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His father, Yuchuan Ding, is a professor of neurosurgery at Wayne State University. His mother, Ning Yan, is a retired teacher who worked in the Detroit public school system.

He currently resides in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, where he works as a public housing administrator for the state government. He’s also a part-time law student.

mreinhart@detroitnews.com