JEOPARDY! contestants faced several triple stumpers on tonight’s episode – which fans are deeming the ‘hardest’ game of season 41.
One of Wednesday’s three players made fans do a double take as they were shocked to learn it’s Brett Kelly, an actor best known for his memorable performance in Bad Santa.
Brett, 30, who now resides in Surrey British Columbia, went up against Sophia Maymudes, a software engineer from Seattle, Washington and returning champ Will Wallace, a game design director from Austin, Texas.
Will is coming back to Jeopardy! as a one-day champ after winning $18,799 on Tuesday’s game.
Viewers felt this game had more difficult questions than the previous games this season which resulted in several triple stumpers.
Sophia was first to find a Daily Double under the category “SOME CLIIFS, SANDS OR BUTTES.”
“Buttes in the Sacramento Valley were named for this man in 1949, 100 years after his name came to fame,” host Ken Jennings read.
However, she did not get the correct response, “Who was Sutter?” and lost $2,000 from her total of $6,600.
She had another chance to redeem herself when she found the second Daily Double under the category “OUR 4-LEGGED FRIENDS.”
“An artist/soldier created the French Army’s first camouflage unit & its insignia, this animal,” was the clue read.
When she failed to answer “What is chameleon?” and Sophia’s total dropped another $2,600 – tying her with Will for first with both at $6,400.
Brett remained in third with $1,200.
Rounding out her trio of findings, under the category THE TROJAN WAR, Sophia also scored the third Daily Double and bet another $2,000.
“In the title of a Shakespeare work, he is a son of King Priam & she is the daughter of Calchas,” Ken read.
Sophia failed to answer “Who are Troilus and Cressida?” – dropping her all the way down to $2,800 heading into Final Jeopardy!
Will was in the lead with $12,000 while Brett struggled to get out of the hole and headed into the last round with $0 – making him ineligible to play Final Jeopardy!
Ken revealed the last category as “THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH” and red the clue: “This day involving the Holy Spirit & the Apostles is sometimes described as the ‘birthday’ of the church.”
Both Sophia and Will were wrong and neither wagered big – leaving the results the same.
Will won the game with $10,000 while Sophia scored $2,594.
Fans were quick to note how tough today’s game board was, with one saying: “Gotta feel for Brett here, I found this to be an extraordinarily difficult game today.
Jeopardy! Universe
Jeopardy! first aired in 1964 until 1975. Then the nighttime version began in 1974. Since then, spinoffs of the game show have emerged. Here are all of those
Jeopardy! – (primetime) 1974 to present, weekdays on ABC at 7pm
Tournament of Champions – 1984 to present, features the top champions who have appeared on the show since the last tournament
Celebrity Jeopardy! – 1992 to present, has celebrities comepete against each other to raise money for chairty
Jeopardy! Masters – 2023 to present, features six notable recent Jeopardy! champions competing against each other
Jeopardy! National College Championship – 2022 to present, undergraduates from 36 colleges and universities across America compete to win $100,000
Other versions of Jeopardy! have fizzled out throughout the years
“Some of these were categories and clues I’d expect to see in the TOC or even Masters. He was also up against two strong players who were quick on the buzzer, so he was never really able to even mount an offense.”
“This game was difficult enough that a single Jeopardy question was used as a late-round LLRC question last year. Definitely some hard content here that would be challenging for all but the very best,” another said.
“This was a hard game today,” a third wrote.
While another noticed how Brett didn’t shoutout his Bad Santa past: “I’m guessing he is tired of talking about it so they didn’t mention it. But Brett is the kid from Bad Santa, right?”
Brett first found fame playing the loveable but troublemaking kid, Thurman Merman, in the 2003 holiday film Bad Santa.
The actor was just eight years old when he landed the role of Thurman and he reprised it 13 years later for the movie’s 2016 sequel Bad Santa 2.
Brett also starred in the 2007 horror movie Trick ‘r Treat and, most recently, has appeared as Cecil Patterson in the Canadian series Family Law.
