‘Jeopardy!’: 1 Contestant Broke the Most Sacred Rule and Had His Prize Winnings Revoked

Jeopardy! is one of the biggest game shows on television, but that doesn’t stop some folks from trying to trick the system. As a result, producers have to do their due diligence to ensure that their well-oiled machine runs according to plan. One previous Jeopardy! contestant broke a rule that is one of the most sacred and had their prize winnings revoked.

‘Jeopardy!’ has a ‘sacred’ rule about competing more than once

According to Claire McNear’s Answers in the Form of Questions book, Jeopardy! has a sacred rule in place for a very important reason. In this case, no one is allowed to return to the show after they already competed once. However, there are two ways that contestants can bypass this rule: an invitation to a reunion competition or a “rare mulligan” as a result of a questioning misfire.

The second case is exactly what happened to eventual seven-time champ Ryan Fenster. Jeopardy! producers brought him back after his fifth-game loss when they discovered that his answer of “the Great Schism” was an acceptable answer in place of “the Western Schism.” As a result, Fenster is one of the only contestants to bypass this Jeopardy! rule and take home both the $1,000 third-place prize and the $2,000 second-place prize, as well as $156,497 in winnings.

Additionally, Fenster was invited back for the Tournament of Champions, where he took home another $5,000.

Producers revoked Jeff Kirby’s prize money for tricking the show

McNear pointed out that the sacred Jeopardy! rule wasn’t always followed. In 2009, Jeff Kirby was introduced as “a math and science teacher from Santa Maria, California” on the show. He placed third against Emma Span and reigning champion Terry Linwood. The contestant later had an interview with his local newspaper, where he talked about his nerves and having makeup on for the first time.

However, some major Jeopardy! fans recognized Kirby from an episode in 1999, where he was introduced as “an elementary school teacher from Santa Maria, California” on the show. And as one Twitter user noticed, Kirby even appeared to be wearing the same red-and-white tie, where he finished in third place in both episodes.

The show’s producers were upset when this was brought to their attention. “He did not disclose that he had previously been on Jeopardy!,” they wrote in a public statement. Otherwise, they would have disqualified the previous contestant from the start of his application. As a result, his second $1,000 consolation prize money was revoked.

The ‘Jeopardy!’ contestant sample size is small

McNear wrote that there aren’t as many contestants as one would imagine. Each Jeopardy! rule is important to the producers, including those surrounding talent scouting. They bring in a static number of contestants each year, which doesn’t change.

In a year with no special tournament taking place, there are 230 new episodes of the flagship television series. As long as there are no three-way ties, that means that there are 460 players, as well as the season premiere’s returning champion.

However, tournaments do get in the way, as well as other spinoffs that evolved over time. As a result, the number is generally even smaller when tournaments put the flagship series on pause.