Marvel actor Simu Liu brought a little of his superhero flair to the premiere episode of “Celebrity Jeopardy!,” winning the game thanks to an incredible comeback.
How did Simu Liu win ‘Celebrity Jeopardy!’?
The 2022 edition of “Celebrity Jeopardy!” premiered Sunday night, featuring a showdown among “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” star Liu, “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” comedian Andy Richter and “Saturday Night Live” star Ego Nwodim, the Deseret News reported.
Richter has competed on “Celebrity Jeopardy!” before, winning $68,000 during a game in 2009, according to the website The Jeopardy Fan. In his memoir, the late Alex Trebek cited Richter as a strong contestant, writing that he believed the actor would fare well in a regular game of “Jeopardy!” per the Deseret News.
During Sunday’s game, everything seemed to be going Richter’s way. Both Liu and Nwodim said they were frustrated by Richter’s success, Yahoo! Entertainment reported. At one point, Liu even said: “I’m realizing now that I’m not the main character of this episode,” according to The Daily Beast.
Going into the Final Jeopardy round, Richter — who maintained a lead for the entire game — had a large lead with $21,100. Liu was in second with $11,600, and Nwodim had $10,000, according to The Jeopardy Fan.
And then it all came down to the final clue: “It’s the world’s smallest landlocked country in both area and population.”
In a surprising ending, Liu was the only contestant to come up with the correct response: “What is Vatican City?” And in a bold move, he had opted to wager his entire $11,600 on the clue, bringing his total earnings to $23,200 and overtaking Richter, who lost $2,200 with his incorrect response of “What is Lichtenstein?”
“I don’t think anybody was expecting that,” a shocked Liu said, per Yahoo! Entertainment.
“That’s ‘Jeopardy!’” Richter added, according to Yahoo! Entertainment. “The final question, if you don’t know the final question, you can just go home.”
And then the actor realized what the outcome really meant: He would be competing in the semifinals.
“I have to come back?!” he said.
When does ‘Celebrity Jeopardy!’ 2022 air?
“Celebrity Jeopardy!,” hosted by actress Mayim Bialik, airs Sundays at 7 p.m. MT on ABC. Episodes are available for streaming the following day on Hulu.
Throughout the “Celebrity Jeopardy!” tournament, 27 celebrities will face off over nine quarterfinal games. The winners of those episodes will compete over three semifinal games. The top three contestants will compete for $1 million — donated to their charity of choice — in a final showdown, USA Today reported.