During the latest episode of “Celebrity Jeopardy!”, players vying for the last open spot in the semifinals faced a series of questions about coffee.
Knowing about Brigham Young University and its honor code provided a slight edge.
BYU gets a shoutout on ‘Jeopardy!’
On Wednesday night, ESPN/NFL analyst Mina Kimes, actor Omar J. Dorsey and comedian Fortune Feimster competed in the last quarterfinal game of “Celebrity Jeopardy!” (the ultimate winner gets $1 million for the charity of their choice).
During the third round of the game, the players were tested on their coffee knowledge.
The highest value clue in the category, for $1,500, drew attention to a school in Utah County: “The honor code of this Provo, Utah university instructs students to abstain from drinking coffee.”
Feimster came up with the correct response — BYU — and brought her total from $4,100 to $5,600.
But in the end, it was Kimes who had the best performance.
She maintained a strong lead throughout the game and correctly answered three out of the four Daily Doubles that she landed on (“Celebrity Jeopardy!”, which is an hour long, has a different format than regular “Jeopardy!” play).
There were a couple of times when it appeared Kimes didn’t know the answer to a Daily Double clue, but at the last minute she would manage to deliver the correct response.
That happened near the end of the game when she wagered $2,000 in the category “From the mouths of birds.” The clue called for the Kurt Vonnegut novel that has the bird call “poo-tee-tweet” as its final line, and Kimes visibly drew a blank before coming up with “Slaughterhouse Five” right before time ran out.
Even “Jeopardy!” host Ken Jennings seemed surprised she was able to pull out the answer.
The response brought her total to $15,600. When it came time for the Final Jeopardy round, Kimes couldn’t be caught. She already secured her win with $19,400 — Dorsey, in second place, had $8,800 while Feimster had $7,100.
Kimes will return to “Celebrity Jeopardy!” later on in the season to compete in the semifinals.
Was the BYU ‘Jeopardy!’ clue Ken Jennings' idea?
Wednesday’s game marked the second time in less than two months that BYU was featured in a game of “Jeopardy!”
Back in January, during the show’s “Tournament of Champions,” BYU quarterback Jake Retzlaff got a shoutout, as the Deseret News previously reported:
“In 2024 the only Jewish starting QB in college football was Jake Retzlaff of this Provo school, one of 3 M.O.T.s on the whole campus.”
Jennings was a recent BYU grad when he went on his 74-game winning streak and amassed $2.5 million — for a brief time at the school, he was even roommates with writer Brandon Sanderson, per Deseret News.
But even with that connection, it’s not likely he brought either of the BYU clues to the table.
The quiz show has featured a number of clues connected to BYU and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints over the years.
Last season, a game featured an entire category dedicated to celebrities with ties to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
And in 2023, when a clue highlighted the full name of the church. Jennings, who is a member of the church, said the clue was not his idea.
“No, that was not me. I would not be injecting my own identity politics into the game,” he told the Deseret News during an interview about his latest book.