JEOPARDY! fans have ‘lost it’ over a surprising clue popping up on tonight’s game that pays homage to controversial former host, Mayim Bialik.
The actress and self-proclaimed “trivia nerd” stepped away from the series in 2023 after a brief hosting run but popped-up again tonight when mentioned by her former rival, Ken Jennings.
Mark Fitzpatrick, the content manager from Riverside, Connecticut, came to increase his winning stream after earning $58,000 from his previous three games.
He went up against Colleen Kelly, a “girl-between-gigs” from Massachusetts and Robert Franke, a data analyst from Wisconsin.
Host Ken, 50, then revealed the first batch of categories, one of which was TV Coupling, which players were instructed to name the show.
Mark got the $200 and $400 clues correctly but it was Colleen who buzzed into the $600 hint that got fans talking.
“Sheldon & Amy, pure genius,” Ken read – to which Colleen answered “What is The Big Bang Theory?”
Before her stint as Jeopardy! host, Mayim, 48, played Amy Farrah Fowler on the iconic CBS sitcom.
Mayim joined the cast in 2010 and played her character, who was a love interest for Jim Parsons’ famous Sheldon Cooper, up until the series finale in 2019.
Fans took note of the connection between the sitcom clue and the lore it has within the game show program.
“I lost it at Ken casually reading the Mayim clue. I know he wanted to say more,” one viewer wrote.
Another said: “Always gets me when a Big Bang Theory clue comes up in the post-Mayim era.”
“Feels like a dark cloud whenever Mayim is brought back up,” a third mentioned.
Despite Colleen correctly guessing the Big Bang Theory clue, it was Mark who secured the early lead with $2,400 – while she and Rob had $1,000 each.
Mark increased his lead when he found the second Daily Double, adding $3,000 to his score.
“Type 1 diabetes destroys beta cells in this organ,” Ken read under the Anatomy category.
“What is a pancreas?” Mark correctly guessed.
He also snagged $4,000 with the third Daily Double under the category Color Films.
“Kristen Stewart & Chris Hemsworth had the two title roles in this 2012 fantasy,” the clue read to which Mark correctly answered: “What is Snow White and the Huntsman?”
Going into Final Jeopardy!, Mark had a hefty lead with $23,600 while Rob was in second with $6,200 and Colleen in third with $5,600.
The category for the final round was Word Origins, as Ken read: “This word for one who cuts a trail comes from a name of a character in an 1840 novel.”
“What is Pathfinder?” was what they were looking for but for the third-straight game in a row, all three players missed the last question.
Fortunately for Mark, he bet $0 and his final total of $23,600 did not drop at all.
Rob bet just $130, dropping his final score to $6,070 while Colleen bet it all and ended the game with $0.
Jeopardy! Universe
Jeopardy! first aired in 1964 until 1975. Then the nighttime version began in 1974. Since then, many spinoffs of the game show have emerged. Here they all are:
Jeopardy! – (syndicated) 1974 to present, weekdays on ABC at 7 pm ET.
Tournament of Champions – 1984 to present, features the top champions who have appeared on the show since the last tournament.
Second Chance Tournament – 2022 to present features hand-selected non-winners from the season prior, where the prize is entry into Champions Wildcard.
Champions Wildcard – 2023 to present, features all one, two and three-day champions from the season prior worth entry into the Tournament of Champions.
Jeopardy! Invitational Tournament (syndication) – 2023 to present, features past greats invited by producers to vie for a slot in Masters.
Jeopardy! Masters (primetime) – 2023 to present, features the six highest-ranked Jeopardy! champions competing against each other.
Celebrity Jeopardy! (primetime) – 1992 to present, has celebrities compete against each other to raise money for charity.
Pop Culture Jeopardy (streaming) – 2024 to present, will feature teams of three tasked with pop culture trivia on Amazon Prime, hosted by Colin Jost, airdate TBD
Jeopardy! has done away with specialized tournaments like its College Tournaments, Kids Week, and Professor’s Tournament to gear towards a more sports-like model, with Masters being the top of the Jeopardy pyramid.
Other versions of Jeopardy! have fizzled out throughout the years as well, like Sports Jeopardy!.
Despite going home with no cash in her pockets, Colleen should be proud as she entertained fans throughout the game, and particular with her job title.
“Girl-between-gigs is my new favorite Jeopardy occupation,” an amused viewer wrote.
Mayim first joined Jeopardy in 2021 as an interim host before being announced as a permanent fixture to the series in 2022.
She would host alongside Ken – having the pair trade off games and spinoff tournaments.
However, after suffering from previous scandals, Mayim stepped away from Jeopardy! in 2023 in solidarity with the Hollywood’s Writer’s Strike.
Producers decided to axe her role all together after the move, and Ken has remained the sole host of the program since.
