Ranking the 10 Best ‘Celebrity Jeopardy!’ Contestants
We’re getting down to the ultimate Celebrity Jeopardy! showdown. ABC’s primetime Jeopardy! spinoff has just two episodes left: one more semifinal episode on January 26 and then the finals on February 2.
Already, we know that Ike Barinholtz and Wil Wheaton will face off in the finals, but the last semifinal will determine who will join them at the third podium for a shot at earning $1 million for charity: Patton Oswalt, Brendan Hunt, or Michael Cera.
It’s probably not a surprise that those actors all rank among the 10 best Celebrity Jeopardy! contestants so far, in terms of quarterfinals Coryat score. (That statistic, developed by former Jeopardy! contestant Karl Coryat, is the player’s score if wagering is ignored.) But the rest of the top 10 includes players who never made it to the semis, all because of one episode’s particularly stiff competition.
Here’s that top 10, with Coryat scores from The Jeopardy! Fan.
10. Ego Nwodim — Coryat: $13,000
Nwodim revealed during her September 25 quarterfinal appearance that her family watches Jeopardy!more than they do Saturday Night Live, on which she’s been performing since 2018. In that episode’s dramatic Final Jeopardy, Nwodim and competitor Andy Richter lost to Marvel star Simu Liu.
9. John Michael Higgins — Coryat: $13,300
Not that Daily Double wagers count toward one’s Coryat score, but this America Says host doubled his score twice during his quarterfinal game by nailing two consecutive “true” Daily Doubles.
8. Iliza Shlesinger — Coryat: $16,200
This comedian and Good on Paper star found five of the six Daily Doubles in her quarterfinal episode, and she was the only contestant that week to give the correct response to a Final Jeopardy clue about Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde.
7. Joel Kim Booster — Coryat: $17,500
Fittingly, this Fire Island star was the contestant who found the Daily Double in the November 6 episode’s “Fire Island” category. (Plus, he added $200 to his total after identifying Sicily as the Mediterranean island that charted 120 degrees in 2021.)
6. Andy Richter — Coryat: $19,900
This Conan sidekick had a commanding lead going into his quarterfinal’s Final Jeopardy round, but he lost to the aforementioned Liu, who bet it all on that last challenge and doubled his score with a correct response.
5. Michael Cera — Coryat: $22,900
It’s a good thing this Arrested Development and Life & Beth actor wagered $0 on Final Jeopardy: He guessed that TIME named Stephen Hawking the Person of the Century in 1999, instead of Albert Einstein.
4. Wil Wheaton — Coryat: $23,300
This grad of Star Trek: The Next Generation and Stand by Me said during his quarterfinal appearance that he has been watching Jeopardy! for at least 35 years.
3. Patton Oswalt — Coryat: $26,300x
The comedian and King of Queens alum dominated his quarterfinal game on January 12, with more than three times as many correct responses as his closest competitor.
2. Ike Barinholtz — Coryat: $30,400
This actor of The Mindy Project and The Afterparty extended his quarterfinal lead with a correct Final Jeopardy response about the sinking of the Titanic.
1. Brendan Hunt — Coryat: $35,600
The Ted Lasso actor and co-creator scored the 22nd best single-game Coryat score of Jeopardy! history during his January 19 quarterfinal, according to The Jeopardy! Fan.
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