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<p>LOS ANGELES &#8212; The goofy and entertaining reign of &#8220;Jeopardy!&#8221; champ Austin Rogers is over.</p><p>The New York City bartender narrowly lost on Thursday&#8217;s show after a 12-game winning streak that netted him a total $411,000, putting him in fifth place for all-time regular season winnings.</p><p>He&#8217;s satisfied with the run, Rogers said in an interview.</p><p>&#8220;I set myself out to win one game. I had no idea I&#8217;d be this wildly successful,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I had no idea I&#8217;d find it, honestly, this easy.&#8221;</p><p>He credits his study of history at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, for encouraging his curious nature, and says devising questions for the trivia quiz nights he hosts proved &#8220;a little helpful&#8221; on the show.</p><p>Scarlett Sims, a stay-at-home mother from Oak Ridge, Tennessee, ended up with $51 more than Rogers after the final question, $33,201 to his $33,150.</p><p>Rogers won&#8217;t be away long: He&#8217;ll compete in the two-week &#8220;Jeopardy!&#8221; tournament of champions that begins Nov. 6.</p><p>He brought an unusually freewheeling, improv-comedy approach to the quiz show. While most players stand obediently as they&#8217;re introduced, for instance, Rogers came up with bits of funny business, such as mimicking making a phone call from the stage.</p><p>That wasn&#8217;t an act for the TV audience, Rogers said. &#8220;My know-it-all-ism is who I am. This is not a facade, unfortunately, America. This is how I behave in everyday situations.&#8221;</p><p>The reaction to his antics surprised Rogers.</p><p>&#8220;I had a vague feeling that people would be like, &#8216;Oh, this guy&#8217;s sort of random,&#8217;&#8221; he said, and figured he might be recognized by a few &#8220;Jeopardy!&#8221; fans on the street. He didn&#8217;t expect to be invited to appear on &#8220;Good Morning America.&#8221;</p><p>But why not? He was the cocky player who dared to high-five host Alex Trebek.</p><p>&#8220;Austin was outside the box &#8212; completely different from what many viewers expect a &#8216;Jeopardy!&#8217; contestant to be,&#8221; Trebek said in a statement. &#8220;He was fun to be with and slightly irreverent.&#8221;</p><p>Rogers&#8217; money tally put him behind Ken Jennings, David Madden, Julia Collins and Matt Jackson, a &#8220;Jeopardy!&#8221; spokeswoman said. He&#8217;s tied with Seth Wilson at No. 5 for most consecutive games won, with Jennings again topping the list.</p><p>Rogers said he&#8217;s hoping to build a media career out of his &#8220;Jeopardy!&#8221; fame and is mulling what shape that might take. The only certainty at this point is what he&#8217;ll do with his winnings: save, not spend.</p><p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t have any real need for that much money. I live a happy life, I&#8217;ve got a nice apartment, I don&#8217;t have a girlfriend that I need to spend money on right now, I don&#8217;t like fancy clothing, I don&#8217;t have a car.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">&#8216;Jeopardy!&#8217; host Alex Trebek, left, poses with contestant Austin Rogers, whose 12-game winning streak came to an end on Thursday&#8217;s broadcast. Rogers finished his run in fifth place on the all-time regular-season (non-tournament), winning $411,000. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/web1_AP17285723082688.jpg</photo0><caption0>&#8216;Jeopardy!&#8217; host Alex Trebek, left, poses with contestant Austin Rogers, whose 12-game winning streak came to an end on Thursday&#8217;s broadcast. Rogers finished his run in fifth place on the all-time regular-season (non-tournament), winning $411,000. </caption0><photoCredit0>Carol Kaelson | Jeopardy Productions, Inc. via AP </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Lynn Elber</p><p>The Associated Press</p></bylineMeta></div>

Standout ‘Jeopardy!’ contestant’s streak ends with narrow loss