‘Jeopardy!’ Contestant Reveals ‘Great Consolation Prize’ From Previous Loss
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Jeopardy! Season 40 is in the second week of its Second Chance Tournament, and digital journalist Matt Walks, who played in the March 18, 2021 game of Season 37, revealed that his last time on the show wasn’t a complete loss.
During the interviews after the first commercial break of the September 18 game, host Ken Jennings noted that Matt has Jeopardy! and specifically guest host Katie Couric to thank for his current relationship. “That’s right. I had a great guest host in Katie. And there was a woman in Oregon who was watching the show specifically for Katie and even though I didn’t win, I got a great consolation prize because she tweeted at me, and now we’ve been dating for two years, and she’s in the audience,” Matt shared.
“It takes a lot of confidence to be watching Jeopardy! and think, ‘I’m going to slide in that contestant’s DMs,’” Jennings remarked. “She shot her shot,” Matt pointed out, and Jennings agreed, adding, “and it worked out.”
Couric was one of a series of guest hosts for Jeopardy! following Alex Trebek’s death in November 2020. Other guest hosts, besides Jennings and Mayim Bialik (who would go on to split permanent hosting duties, until Bialik stepped back out of solidarity for the writers’ strike) included: Bill Whitaker, Savannah Guthrie, Sanjay Gupta, Anderson Cooper, Aaron Rodgers, Mehmet Oz, George Stephanopoulos, Robin Roberts, LeVar Burton, David Faber, and Joe Buck.
Couric guest hosted from March 8 through March 19 in 2021, making Matt’s first appearance one of her last episodes. He ended that game in second place, with a final score of $1,599 to, at the time, two-day champion Morgan Briles’ $16,400. (Morgan lost in her third game.) Matt once again came in second place in the September 18 game.
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