‘Celebrity Jeopardy!’ Contestant D’Arcy Carden Breaks Buzzer and Forces Game to Stop

Brittany Sims March 6, 2025, 7:23 pm

Chaos ensued on the Celebrity Jeopardy! set as the game was forced to shut down. D’Arcy Carden (The Good Place) broke the game show‘s buzzer, according to The U.S. Sun.

Carden, whose charity was Americares — which helps people around the world impacted by various disasters — competed in the Wednesday, March 5 episode against actor Sean Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy), playing for Women for Women International, which helps women rebuild their lives and graduate with “life-changing skills,” and Sherry Cola (Nobody Wants This), who played for the charity Teach AAPI, which creates space and opportunities for children to learn about Asian American and Pacific Islander cultures.

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She terrified host Ken Jennings as she broke the beloved prop from the set. Moments after Jennings boasted about how the buzzer had never been broken, the piece had been torn apart.

The game was off to a normal start. Gunn answered most of the questions correctly, putting him in the lead. But, once the commercial break began, madness happened. A source told The U.S. Sun that Jennings approached the audience during the break for a Q&A. One fan asked the host if anyone had ever broken the buzzer, to which he proudly responded that no one had broken it in the history of the show.

'Celebrity Jeopardy!' Fans React After Big Change on Show

When the game show resumed and Double Jeopardy! began, production had to be halted due to the damaged buzzer. Cola found a Daily Double, and as Kennings read out the clue, Carden yelled out that the device had torn apart. The red button on top had fallen off, according to the source. This caused panic to ensue on set.

“There was a huge amount of stress as that’s never happened before. The producers had to turn off the power to all the screens and the lights,” the insider said.

“They shut everything down, and Ken looked very stressed. Producers ran up on stage and huddled around D’Arcy in a desperate attempt to fix the buzzer.”

“Producers even shuffled the contestants away from the podium. They took the matter extremely seriously,” they continued.

Game play resumed about five minutes later when the button was replaced. The blunder was edited out from the version that aired on TV. The snafu might have cost Carden the win because Gunn came out on top, advancing to the next round. Carden came in last place. Still, Carden and Cola both earned $30,000 for their charities, even though they didn’t advance.

The next matchup will take place on Wednesday, March 12, with Omar J. Dorsey (Bookie, The Blind Side) going up against journalist and sports commentator Mina Kimes and comedian Fortune Feimster.

Celebrity Jeopardy!, Wednesdays, 9/8c, ABC