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Jeopardy has logged its 9,000th episode with the Friday, March 22 installment. And every single one of them has been announced by Johnny Gilbert, who at 95 is still going strong as the Jeopardy announcer.
Gilbert has been with the series since it debuted in 1984, just like the late Alex Trebek. The March 22 episode ended with a celebratory salute to its decades-long history, commemorating the thousands of games and contestants. The tribute fits in well with Jeopardy‘s upcoming Diamond Celebration commemorating the show’s 60th anniversary on September 10, 2024. Starting March 30 and through the rest of the year, Jeopardy fans can participate in events, get special merchandise, and see a national tour.
“For 60 years, Jeopardy! has been America’s favorite sport of the mind, defying time and continuing to attract viewers of all generations,” said Suzanne Prete, President, Game Shows, Sony Pictures Television when the tour was announced. “Like the true diamond that it is, we’re excited to bring our fans a year of festivities to honor this important milestone while inspiring enthusiasm for the franchise’s future through the 60th Diamond Celebration.” Get all the info on the Diamond Celebration here.
The series has hosted its share of special events over the years in the form of special tournaments. Tournaments are the show’s current bread and butter, the current one being the brand new Jeopardy Invitational Tournament (JIT), which invites former winners and fan-favorites to compete for a $100,000 prize and an invitation to the next installment of Jeopardy Masters.
Competing on March 22 was Alan Lin, a software engineer from Los Angeles, California; Matt Jackson, a grad student in computer science and public policy originally from Washington, D.C.; and Terry O’Shea, a software engineer from Brooklyn, New York.
Matt started the game as a high scorer, with $8,200 logged by the first break and $9,600 by the second. Alan and Terry did their best to catch up, but that’s hard to do when your competitor finds all three Daily Doubles and answers them correctly. Matt’s three Daily Double wagers were high, the highest being his third wager of $12,000. That helped him start Final Jeopardy with a score of $41,200. Alan had $14,000, and Terry had $5,800.
A safe final wager allowed Matt to win with a runaway game. His final score was $41,321, Alan’s was $14,001, and Terry bet and lost it all. Not a bad winner’s score for the 9,000th episode!
Jeopardy, Weekdays, Check your local listings