The real winner in the man-versus-machine “Jeopardy!” challenge was the show itself.

“Jeopardy!” earned its highest ratings in more than five years during the three-day “exhibition match” between IBM’s latest artificial intelligence, Watson, and game show champs Brad Rutter and Ken Jennings.

The Wednesday finale came in second in households behind ratings juggernaut “American Idol.”

Watson finished with $77,147 in winnings — compared to Jennings’ $24,000 and Rutter’s $21,600 — and wound up taking home the $1 million prize, which will be donated to charity, says IBM.