Fritzify! - Wikipedia Bio

Wikipedia Bio

No, I don't have a Wikipedia entry right now. :-) But if I did -- or if you'd like to create one for me -- here's what a Wikipedia entry for Fritz Holznagel might well look like.

Ryan 'Fritz' Holznagel

Ryan 'Fritz' Holznagel is an American writer and game show contestant. He is known for winning the 1995 Tournament of Champions on the U.S. syndicated game show Jeopardy!, and for receiving an Emmy Award as co-writer of the animated TV special A Claymation Easter Celebration. [source][source]. Since 2022, he has been the quizmaster for the news site The Conversation.

Biography

Fritz Holznagel grew up in Forest Grove, Oregon and graduated from Willamette University in 1983 with a degree in History. [source] [source] [source] He was named an alumnus member of Willamette’s Phi Beta Kappa chapter in 2005. [source] After graduation, he worked in film and video as a production assistant and assistant director before joining Will Vinton Productions in 1988 as a production manager and, later, writer.[source] [source] He earned two Primetime Emmy nominations as a co-writer of the CBS specials Claymation Comedy of Horrors (1991) and A Claymation Easter Celebration (1992), winning the Emmy for the latter show.[source] [source]

In 1995 he edited The World Wide Web Top 1000, a book of reviews of popular websites.[source] He was hired by the Internet search engine Lycos in 1998 and created the Lycos 50, the first weekly ranking of the most popular Internet search terms.[source] [source] He later worked at Google as part of its writing team.[source][source][source]

With Paul Hehn, he created the biographical website Who2.com in 1998.[source] Holznagel is also the editor of The Ultimate Droodles Compendium (2019), a cartoon collection and biography of American humorist (and Mad Libs co-creator) Roger Price.[source]

Jeopardy! and Secrets of the Buzzer

As Ryan Holznagel, he first appeared on Jeopardy! on November 3, 1994, winning four games and $49,413.[source][source] He returned to the 1995 Tournament of Champions and in the final, which aired on November 24, 1995, defeated Isaac Segal and David Siegel to win the tournament and its top prize of $100,000.[source]

He represented the United States in the 1996 Jeopardy! Olympic Games Tournament, and was also invited back for the Ultimate Tournament of Champions (2005) and (as Fritz Holznagel) for the Battle of the Decades in 2014.[source][source][source] His total Jeopardy! winnings to date are $179,413.[source]

Holznagel wrote the book Secrets of the Buzzer in 2015, outlining what he had learned about reaction time and buzzer speed while training for the Battle of the Decades.[source] The book gained fame when Jeopardy! contestant James Holzhauer credited Holznagel for helping his buzzing technique during his 32-game winning streak in 2019, during which he won $2,462,216.[source] FiveThirtyEight wrote that Holzhauer “credits former contestant Fritz Holznagel — and his book ‘Secrets of the Buzzer’ — for his prodigious digital skill.”[source] The Atlanta Journal-Constitution wrote that “Baseball players have Ted Williams’ ‘The Science of Hitting.’ Golfers have ‘Harvey Penick’s Little Red Book.’ And quiz show wannabes have Fritz Holznagel’s ‘Secrets of the Buzzer.’”[source]

The book was featured on the official Jeopardy! blog on December 2, 2019.[source] Fritz was interviewed on episode 3 of the Sony “This is Jeopardy!” podcast in 2023, titled “Both Sides of the Buzzer.” Host Buzzy Cohen remarked, “Fritz is the buzzer guru — he’s the Obi-Wan of the signaling device.”[source]

Fritz Holznagel also appeared on the quiz show Who Wants To Be a Millionaire? in 2018, winning $30,000.[source][source]

Filmography

Year Title Position Notes

1986 Shadow Play // third assistant director // Feature film [source]

1987 The Last Innocent Man // production assistant // Television film [source]

1987 King Cole's Party // first assistant director // Video [source]

1988 Permanent Record // production assistant // Feature film [source]

1988 Meet the Raisins! // production manager // Television special [source]

1989 The California Raisin Show // story supervisor // Television series [source]

1991 Claymation Comedy of Horrors // screenplay // Television special [source]

1992 A Claymation Easter Celebration // screenplay // Television special [source]

1994 Jeopardy!// contestant // Quiz show