Among the highest honors is one day becoming the focus of a question on game show, there are some things about it that aren't as commonly known.
Jeopardy! has been on the air for over 50 years, and with it has come numerous hosts, contestants, questions, and lots of trivia about our favorite topics. It'd be hard to know absolutely everything about a game show that's lasted over half a century, but here are ten things about Jeopardy! that you may have missed.
It Was Created By Merv Griffin
The Jeopardy! game show was created by Merv Griffin, who even made the popular jingle still used today. In addition to creating Jeopardy!, Griffin also has experience briefly hosting The Price is Right and even created Wheel of Fortune.
Julann Wright, Griffin's former wife, gave him the idea to do a game show where the answer is revealed, and the players have to come up with the question. Though Griffin is often credited as the creator, Jeopardy! may not be what it is today without Wright.
There Have Been Over 8,000 Episodes
You know that Jeopardy! has been on the air for 50 years with no signs of stopping anytime soon, but what you might not know is what all those years have amounted to. For one, the show reached its 8,000th episode in late 2019.
To add to that insane amount, the show has had over 30 seasons, 16,000 contestants—including 200 celebrities—and 400 game shows from the beginning to the show's current era. Jeopardy! is one of the strongest and most entertaining game shows out there, so it's no wonder how it's lasted this long.
It's Taped In California
Jeopardy! features many geographical questions, which can be about South America, Australia, or any other continent. However, all of the segments are currently filmed at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, California.
Sony Pictures Studios isn't only used to film Jeopardy!. Other shows like One Day at a Time are filmed there, as well. It's amazing how these shows can be so different while also coming from the same place.
Multiple Segments Are Filmed Daily
While only one new episode of Jeopardy! is aired a day, that isn't the case for it being filmed. It saves time, effort, and money to simply film multiple episodes in a single day.
An ordinary viewer may not notice this trick, as nothing in Jeopardy! indicates the days on which the episodes are filmed. Also, Alex Trebek changes outfits each time the crew finishes filming an episode to help keep up the illusion that they're filmed days apart.
There Was A Children's Version
The Jeopardy! series is mostly known for having adult contestants and for sometimes dedicating an entire week to kids. Before this, there was once a version that was dedicated to children. In 1998, a series called Jep! aired on GSN, and it lasted for two seasons. This version had easier questions for children, and it was more bright and colorful. It's interesting to think of how well the show would do if it had aired today.
There Was A Music Version
Jep! isn't the only game show spin-off of Jeopardy!. There was once a version of the game show that was dedicated to music called Rock and Roll Jeopardy!.
Rock and Roll Jeopardy! played similarly to the original series, but all of the topics were about music. The show lasted for four seasons, and, like Jep!, it was played for points instead of money. Unlike Jep!, though, Rock and Roll Jeopardy! began using real money for the latter half of its run.
There Was A Sports Version
The third and final spin-off of Jeopardy! is Sports Jeopardy!. The show first aired in 2014, and, unlike the other two spin-offs, this show wasn't released on television. Instead, it was on Sony's streaming service called Crackle.
The show had an identical format as the original Jeopardy!, except the questions were all about sports. It lasted for three seasons and ended in 2016.
It Appears In The Golden Girls
Jeopardy! has been the focus of many television shows and movies, including Cheers. In addition to these shows, Jeopardy! appears in season seven of The Golden Girls.
In the episode "Questions and Answers," Dorothy has a dream that she's playing Jeopardy! against Rose and her neighbor Charlie Dietz. It's always funny seeing how Jeopardy! is incorporated in different media, and this episode was no exception.
Jeopardy Records
In 2019, James Holzhauer made news for winning 32 consecutive games of Jeopardy!. That's an impressive amount of victories and tough to beat, but it has been done before. In 2004, Ken Jennings ended his run with 74 consecutive games won.
Holzhauer may not have the record for the most consecutive games won, but he does have other records. He's won the most in a single game out of any contestant, with $131,127. Before that, he repeatedly set new records and broke his previous ones.
All-Time Winnings
Holzhauer holds numerous records in Jeopardy!, like the aforementioned single-game winnings record. However, another record he does not have is the most winnings in all of Jeopardy!.
That award goes to Brad Rutter, who has been playing the game since 2000. In 2014, he beat Jennings in a tournament, and left with an overall score of $4,938,436, which is the most anyone has ever won in Jeopardy!.