Ocean City’s Cris Pannullo Cracks $300k on Jeopardy

By MADDY VITALE Ocean City resident Cris Pannullo is on a roll. He is closing in on double digits for wins on Jeopardy, racking up total winnings of more than $300,000. On Wednesday, he hit the Daily Doubles and wagered handsomely, though he didn’t go all-in as he did on the nights previously. But his relatively conservative wagers still brought him the numbers, and so did his correct answers. He started the game off with an eight-day winning total of $275,502. And on Wednesday that amount was boosted to $313,323 for nine games. “He’s on quite a roll,” Jeopardy host Ken Jennings said. At the start of the show, Pannullo, a customer success operations manager, gave his signature “thumbs-up” sign to the audience. Throughout the show, his lead only grew against his over-matched opponents. A couple of times, however, the usually cool and composed Pannullo appeared visibly disappointed by missing a question or hitting the buzzer too late to answer. Cris Pannullo's specialty is hitting the Daily Doubles. (Photo credit tvshowsace.com) He continued to dominate, though, throughout the rounds. And after correct answers on Daily Doubles, his lead grew even wider. Jennings took note of Pannullo’s strong play nearing the end of the game. “Another dominant performance as we head into Final Jeopardy,” Jennings said of Pannullo’s lead. By the time the contestants had the final clue, it didn’t matter that all three of them gave the correct answer. Pannullo already had $29,600 and enjoyed an insurmountable lead. Challengers Elizabeth Meisenzahl, a student from Lima, New York, had $8,600 and Fernando Villafuerte, a graduate student from Pasadena, Calif., had $5,000. In the end, it was another “big payday,” for Pannullo, Jennings said. Pannullo returns to Jeopardy on Thursday, Oct. 13, at 7 p.m. on Channel 6. The champion will face challengers Zack Russell, a contracting officer from Dayton, Ohio, and Andrew Jiang, an options trader from Brooklyn, New York. He also will be in next season’s Tournament of Champions. For more information, visit the official Jeopardy website at www.jeopardy.com Cris Pannullo, right, with Jeopardy host Ken Jennings. (Photo courtesy of Jeopardy.com)