‘Jeopardy!’ Viewers Spot Familiar Contestant on Show

Alfred Guy on Jeopardy!
Jeopardy!

While Jeopardy! viewers are usually busy trying to figure out the show’s trivia questions; it was a contestant on the Wednesday, July 20 episode that had fans racking their brains.

The contestant in question was Alfred Guy, a professor at Yale University, who some viewers thought looked familiar. And there was a reason why fans were drawn to Guy. That’s because he is a quiz show regular, having appeared on several other television game shows over the years.

In 2011, Guy, who is director of undergraduate writing and tutoring at Yale, appeared on the syndicated daytime version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, hosted by Meredith Vieira. He had an impressive performance on the show, correctly answering 13 of the 14 questions and walking away with $250,000 in winnings. He also bagged himself a further $100,000 on an episode of Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? in 2019.

But Guy’s TV appearances go even further back than that, as he also appeared on a May 1987 episode of Love Connection, the dating game show where singles attempt to connect with a compatible partner.

While some viewers tried to remember where they knew him from, others were quick to recognize the veteran game show competitor.

Guy didn’t have as much success on Jeopardy! as he had in his previous TV experiences, finishing in third place with $10,999. However, he told the New Haven Register that he was on Jeopardy! more for the experience than the money, referring to it as the “Olympics” of game shows. He also said the best part of the show was chatting with his fellow contestants.

“I was very very pleased with how much the contestants root for each other,” he said. “In a show where [you win by getting] questions right, I could see sometimes the other contestants being like ‘Wow!’ instead of like ‘Damn!’ and that surprised me. I didn’t think there would be so much comradery.”

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