David Madden

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This article is about the champion on Jeopardy! For the actor, see Dave Madden.

David Madden (born June 13, 1981) is a graduate student, best known publicly as a contestant on the television game show Jeopardy!. Between 2005-07-05 and 2005-09-19 Madden won nineteen games and $432,400, both records only exceeded by Ken Jennings in regular season Jeopardy!. His total Jeopardy! winnings of $442,400 (adding $10,000 for the 2006 Tournament of Champions) is fourth all-time, behind Brad Rutter, Ken Jennings, and Jerome Vered.^[1]

Madden's play was noted for many runaway or lock games, strategic wagers, and the selection of higher valued clues when approaching a category, in an effort to 'fish' for the Daily Doubles. His nineteen-game streak came to an end on September 19, 2005, when he was defeated by Victoria Groce, a musician from Decatur, Georgia.

During the 2006 Tournament of Champions, Madden won his first round match (defeating the eventual winner of the Tournament, Michael Falk), but in his second round match, Madden entered Final Jeopardy in a distant third place, trailing Bill MacDonald $22,600 to $4,600. Instead of answering the Final Jeopardy question, he wished "Good Luck" to MacDonald on the answer screen and finished with $0.

Madden also holds two other achievements of note relating to his run on Jeopardy. Throughout his 22 games (including two in the 2006 Tournament of Champions) he selected 46 clues that were "Daily Doubles" and got only 2 incorrect. Madden is also believed to be the longest ever "real-time" champion since he taped his first show on December 14, 2004 and his last regular season show on July 9, 2005. During much of this time, Jeopardy was either taping the Ultimate Tournament of Champions or on summer hiatus.

Madden graduated magna cum laude from Princeton University, where he majored in the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. He is originally from Ridgewood, New Jersey, and currently is pursuing his master's degree in International relations in Berlin, Germany.