Three contestants are vying for the $250,000 prize in the prestigious “Jeopardy!” Tournament of Champions, and it’s been a fierce competition. So far, over the five games that have aired in the finals, only 11 clues have stumped all three players — that’s 11 out of roughly 300 total clues.
During Monday night’s episode, Game 5 of the Tournament of Champions, “Jeopardy!” quizzed the players on everything from vice presidents to musical films. The show also revealed a category titled “The Book of Mormons,” which tested the contestants’ knowledge of celebrities with ties to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (they got them all right).
‘The Book of Mormons’ ‘Jeopardy!’ category
Per “Jeopardy!” archives, “The Book of Mormons” category featured the following five clues (answers are at the very bottom of the article):
- “Alan, Wayne, Merrill and Jay were some of the other members of this singing family, with hits like ‘One Bad Apple.’”
- “Though she no longer practices, this star of ‘27 Dresses’ was raised in the Mormon faith and lives in Utah.”
- “Raised in the LDS Church, Paul Walker gained worldwide fame in this movie series before dying in a car accident in 2013.”
- “Dubbed the ‘Empress of Soul,’ this singer has won seven competitive Grammys — four solo and three with the Pips.”
- “In 2011, this lead singer of the Killers was part of the ‘I’m a Mormon’ campaign.”
‘Jeopardy!’ has a history with Latter-day Saint clues
The category comes a little over two years since a “Jeopardy!” clue featured the full name of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. That clue, in a category titled “Religion,” ended up stumping all three contestants: “In 2018, the Mormon or LDS Church announced a course correction to stress the full name that mentions the Savior.”
(Note: The church’s style guide regarding the term “Mormon” is found online and states, “The official name of the Church is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. ... While the term ‘Mormon Church’ has long been publicly applied to the Church as a nickname, it is not an authorized title, and the Church discourages its use.”)
Ken Jennings, the host of “Jeopardy!” and a member of the church, ended up revealing the answer to the contestants, the Deseret News reported at the time.
Jennings has previously said he did not bring that clue to the table.
“No, that was not me. I would not be injecting my own identity politics into the game,” he told the Deseret News last year during an interview about his latest book.
But in a 2022 profile from The Washington Post that explored Jennings’ rise to “Jeopardy!” stardom, the host did credit his upbringing as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in helping him stay balanced amid the fame and fortune. He even cited a scripture from the Doctrine and Covenants, which reads, “The glory of God is intelligence, or, in other words, light and truth.”
As a lifelong “Jeopardy!” fan, Jennings — who holds the all-time record for most “Jeopardy!” wins — said he’s seen several references to the Church of Jesus Christ over the years.
“When I was a contestant on the show, I wagered $3,800 one time on a Daily Double where the response turned out to be ‘Who is Brigham Young?’” he told the Deseret News in 2013. “I remember wishing I’d wagered a lot more.”
Answers: (1. The Osmonds; 2. Katherine Heigl; 3. “The Fast and the Furious”; 4. Gladys Knight; 5. Brandon Flowers).