Jeopardy! romance leaves fans questioning conflict of interest as spouses stun with ‘amazing story’
Recent speculation about Jeopardy! sportsmanship seems to now be extending to questions about contestant romantic relations.
Roger Craig, an applied scientist from Arlington, V.A, absolutely dominated the game show with his quiz whiz mind, but fans were more fascinated by his reveal that he is married to another Jeopardy! hotshot, Julia Collins. Roger told host Ken Jennings: “At the All-Star game, I reconnected with Julia Collins. I first met her in New York about 10 years ago and we’re married now.”
Their union left some wondering if it may have impacted those playing in the Jeopardy! Invitational Tournament since Julia seemed to turn down an invite to the prestigious event. A fan said: “That was certainly a surprise to learn! (pleasantly though). Perhaps that may explain why Julia declined the invite? Someone who knows better than me: is there some sort of conflict of interest with spouses playing against each other on Jeopardy?”
Ken gave his congratulations to the “Jeopardy! power couple.” Plus, he proactively cleared up any confusion for the fans about Julia’s absence. He turned the mic over to Roger who explained that they weren’t opposed to going up against each other and that Julia would have loved to have been on the show. However, the “logistics just didn’t work out.” Ken hinted that they might see the pair in the future, not indicating any issue with them going head-to-head.
Another fan replied: “I don’t see why they would have rules barring family from competing against each other, particularly with the JIT and Masters drawing on Jeopardy’s understandably incestuous alumni network. For what it’s worth, Countdown in the UK—which, while not a quiz show, has some strong structural parallels to Jeopardy—had a husband and wife face off in their JIT analogue.”
Fans were “caught off guard” with the news. “Woah Roger and Julia are married that’s a interesting fact,” wrote one fan on Reddit. Another added: “Roger and Julia Collins getting married is an amazing story too! That’s a couple you don’t ever want to face off against lol.”
In traditional competitive Jeopardy! some fans wondered how their partnership looked on the stat sheets. As it turns out, there are running tabs on Jeopardy! couples and how well they stack up. “So i guess they retroactively take the record of “most combined wins by a couple” from Kristin and Justin Sausville,” mused one fan.
“Still a long way to Ken and his wife combined wins,” added another. A third offered a bit of clarity, saying: “lol yeah, i think that’s why J-Archive words it as ‘most wins of any married couple where both spouses appeared on Jeopardy’ — though maybe that should still be clarified to “both spouses *played* on Jeopardy” since i think Mindy has occasionally been on camera.”
Over all, fans were endeared with the pairing with one writing, “I love that fact. I remember he was gushing about Julia in the All Stars Tournament backstage videos, so it makes perfect sense. They look like they’d make a cute couple as well.”
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Jeopardy! fans love when there’s a bit of romance in the air. Some recent chatter about a particular couple brought up further questions about the show’s ethics.
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[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for the Friday, February 21 episode of Jeopardy!]
Love was in the air in the latest Jeopardy! Invitational Tournament game when contestant Roger Craig revealed that he’s got married to one of the show’s all time greats!
Craig is a Season 27 six-game champion, 2011 Tournament of Champions winner, Battle of the Decades 2nd runner-up, and 2019 All-Star Games participant. On JIT on Friday, February 21, Craig faced Maya Wright, a graduate student from Atlanta, Georgia. She is a 2018 Teen Tournament second-runner-up and 2023 High School Reunion Tournament 2nd runner-up. John Focht, a Season 37 four-game champion and a 2022 Tournament of Champion semi-finalist, was the other competitor. He is a baseball software team lead originally from El Paso, Texas.
Craig, an applied scientist from Arlington, Virginia, is a winner not only on Jeopardy!, but also in love. He gave an update on his life during Friday’s show and revealed that he is now married to Julia Collins, a 20-day champion. During her run from April 21 to June 2, 2014, Collins won $429,100. At the time, it was the third-highest total in Jeopardy! history. It is now the ninth highest. She had the most consecutive wins of a woman until Amy Schneider passed her in 2021.
During the introductions, host Ken Jennings asked Craig what was new with him since he last played with him in the All-Star Game in 2019 and Craig mentioned getting married.
“Well, at the All-Star Game, I reconnected with Julia Collins. I first met her in New York about 10 years ago and we’re married now,” he said.
“Wow. Jeopardy! power couple,” Jennings said as the audience clapped. “Congratulations!”
“Yeah. It’s the best thing to ever happen to me,” Craig responded.
“But, you’re here instead of Julia. Are you guys not going to ever play each other on Jeopardy!?” the host wondered.
“Oh! We would love to. She would love to be here, but the logistics just didn’t work out, so hopefully next time,” Craig said.
“Maybe next time we’ll see you both,” Jennings told him.
Obligatory pic of me and a very serious @KenJennings throwing gang signs. pic.twitter.com/XkLW1dpRh7
— Roger Craig (@rogcraig) April 11, 2014
Reddit users were shocked to hear that the Jeopardy! players are a couple.
“Woah Roger and Julia are married that’s an interesting fact,” one fan said.
“Caught me off guard ngl,” said another.
“That was certainly a surprise to learn! (pleasantly though). Perhaps that may explain why Julia declined the invite. Someone who knows better than me: is there some sort of conflict of interest with spouses playing against each other on Jeopardy?” a fan inquired.
During the first round, Craig was in third place with only $800 until answering the Daily Double correctly. “Think of the 4-letter acronym describing Muhammad Ali & it makes sense this was his sign,” the DD read.
“What is Capricorn?” Craig answered, which was correct, bringing him up to $1,800, and second place.
By the end of the first round, Craig and Wright were tied for second place with $2,200. Focht was way ahead with $7,800.
Craig skyrocketed to first place in Double Jeopardy! by finding all of the DD’s in that round. Correctly answering all of them and making outrageous wagers, he earned $30,000. Craig dominated the rest of the round answering most of the questions correctly. He ended with $36,000. Focht was in second with $13,800 and Wright had $1,400.
The Final Jeopardy! question determined the game and led Craig to the win. It read, “Yale takes credit for starting a commencement tradition when it gave this composer an honorary doctorate in 1905.”
Wright answered correctly with “Who is Elgar?” wagering only $47, making her final total $1,447. Focht answered the same, adding $915, ending with $14,715. Craig also wrote Elgar and wagered nothing, ending with $36,000. He advances to the semi-finals. Maybe Collins will show up in the audience during the next round.
Monday’s game will feature Avi Gupta, 2019 Teen Tournament winner, fan-favorite Amy Schneider, 2022 ToC winner, and Luigi de Guzman, five-day winner.
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Jeopardy! romance leaves fans questioning conflict of interest as spouses stun with ‘amazing story’
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By Alex West,
Recent speculation about Jeopardy! sportsmanship seems to now be extending to questions about contestant romantic relations.
Roger Craig, an applied scientist from Arlington, V.A , absolutely dominated the game show with his quiz whiz mind, but fans were more fascinated by his reveal that he is married to another Jeopardy! hotshot, Julia Collins. Roger told host Ken Jennings: “At the All-Star game, I reconnected with Julia Collins. I first met her in New York about 10 years ago and we’re married now.”
Their union left some wondering if it may have impacted those playing in the Jeopardy! Invitational Tournament since Julia seemed to turn down an invite to the prestigious event. A fan said: “That was certainly a surprise to learn! (pleasantly though). Perhaps that may explain why Julia declined the invite? Someone who knows better than me: is there some sort of conflict of interest with spouses playing against each other on Jeopardy?”
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Ken gave his congratulations to the “Jeopardy! power couple.” Plus, he proactively cleared up any confusion for the fans about Julia’s absence. He turned the mic over to Roger who explained that they weren’t opposed to going up against each other and that Julia would have loved to have been on the show. However, the “logistics just didn’t work out.” Ken hinted that they might see the pair in the future, not indicating any issue with them going head-to-head.
Another fan replied: “I don’t see why they would have rules barring family from competing against each other, particularly with the JIT and Masters drawing on Jeopardy’s understandably incestuous alumni network. For what it’s worth, Countdown in the UK—which, while not a quiz show, has some strong structural parallels to Jeopardy—had a husband and wife face off in their JIT analogue.”
Fans were “caught off guard” with the news. “Woah Roger and Julia are married that’s a interesting fact,” wrote one fan on Reddit . Another added: “Roger and Julia Collins getting married is an amazing story too! That’s a couple you don’t ever want to face off against lol.”
In traditional competitive Jeopardy! some fans wondered how their partnership looked on the stat sheets. As it turns out, there are running tabs on Jeopardy! couples and how well they stack up. “So i guess they retroactively take the record of “most combined wins by a couple” from Kristin and Justin Sausville,” mused one fan.
“Still a long way to Ken and his wife combined wins,” added another. A third offered a bit of clarity, saying: “lol yeah, i think that’s why J-Archive words it as ‘most wins of any married couple where both spouses appeared on Jeopardy’ — though maybe that should still be clarified to “both spouses *played* on Jeopardy” since i think Mindy has occasionally been on camera.”
Over all, fans were endeared with the pairing with one writing, “I love that fact. I remember he was gushing about Julia in the All Stars Tournament backstage videos, so it makes perfect sense. They look like they’d make a cute couple as well.”
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