[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for the March 4 episode of Jeopardy!]
Jeopardy! features a first with its Tournament of Champions in 2024: an actor, who won Celebrity Jeopardy!, taking part. Ike Barinholtz won three games, like one of his opponents Melissa Klapper; the third player in the March 4 quarterfinal, Ray Lalonde, won 13.
Barinholtz started off great, with the first correct answer (in Vacation Spots for $800). He was in third after the first break, when host Ken Jennings asked him what it’s like to be the first Celebrity Jeopardy! champion to appear in the Tournament of Champions.
“I feel like a guinea pig a little bit, but I like guinea pigs, they’re adorable, like me. But yeah, it’s an honor to be here.” Barinholtz shared. “A lot of people were giving me well wishes, and a lot of them were tinged with the tone of, ‘I thought you were dumb,’ and I am, full disclosure, but it was wonderful. People were surprised, but I was happy they were saying nice things to me.” In other words, it was a “pleasant surprise,” as Jennings put it.
Also a pleasant surprise? How well Barinholtz did after that. He chose one of the two Daily Doubles in the Double Jeopardy! round. “Ike, you have the lead against two great Jeopardy! champs, including a 13-game winner,” Jennings noted, asking how much he was going to risk. Barinholtz made it a true Daily Double and was correct—in Numeric Movie Titles, “Fellini felt he’d directed 7.5 film before making this 1963 gem” (What is 8 1/2?)—bringing him to $15,200.
Klapper did have the lead going into Final Jeopardy ($21,400 over Barinholtz’s $14,800 and Lalonde’s $13,800), and Jennings remarked it was a “great game” at that point.
The final clue, in Poets of Ancient Rome, read, “Far from Rome, this first century poet wrote, ‘The leader’s anger done, grant me the right to die in my native country.’” Lalonde was correct, and so Jennings wondered, as he turned to Barinholtz, “Was he thinking about Ovid, as we know celebrities often do?” He was, and in fact, with Klapper not getting the answer, Barinholtz won, with a total of $28,601. (Lalonde was in second with $21,800 and Klapper in third with $13,199.) He’s advanced to the semifinals.
Over on the Reddit thread for this episode, viewers were pleasantly surprised, though did note it did mean another fan-favorite (Lalonde) is out. “My favorite victory so far for sure,” one fan wrote. One said it was “fantastic to watch,” while according to others, Barinholtz delivered an “impressive performance” and it was “the craziest thing to ever happy in the history of Jeopardy!”
Even Lalonde fans enjoyed watching the game and seeing Barinholtz win, with one adding that it’s “cool” that a Celebrity Jeopardy! champion is in the semifinals of the Tournament of Champions. “Ike played phenomenal and proved he can hang with the champs. Man crush fully activated,” the person wrote. “What a f**king baller.”
A self-proclaimed “huge Ray Lalonde fan,” added, “I must say, wow, go Ike Barinholtz! What an amazing game! He singlehandedly redeemed and elevated the Celebrity Jeopardy! name in one fell swoop. That was genuinely one of the best Jeopardy! performances I’ve seen, against some of the toughest challenges. Props to Ike.”
In general, fans have enjoyed the multiple shocking winners over the Tournament of Champions this year already. “Unreal! Despite so many of my favourites getting kicked to the curb, this has been such a blast to watch,” one viewer said, and another called it “entertaining to watch.”
At least one person is trying to come up with an explanation for what we’re seeing so far during this tournament. “This TOC has been full of surprises, and part of that might have to do with that fact that there are no wildcards. Contestants have to play to win. And that makes it all the more exciting,” reads the comment. “It really does feel like you’re watching a proper sports competition now. I don’t mind that at all, I love it.”
What did you think of Barinholtz’s performance in the quarterfinal? Let us know in the comments section below.
Jeopardy!, Weekdays, check local listings