Jeopardy! contestant Roger Craig has the show to thank for his marriage to former champion Julia Collins.
Craig told host Ken Jennings on the Friday, February 21, episode of Jeopardy! that the show was responsible for the pair’s happiness.
“At the All-Star Games, I reconnected with Julia Collins,” he said. “I first met her in New York about 10 years ago, and we’re married now.”
Jennings was ecstatic. “Wow, Jeopardy power couple! Congratulations!” he exclaimed.
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Craig also said the relationship is “the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”
When asked why Collins wasn’t at the invitational tournament as well, Craig explained she wasn’t able to attend and go against him — yet. “We would love to,” he continued. “She would love to have been here, but the logistics just didn’t work out. So hopefully next time.”
Craig first appeared on the show in 2010. He set a single-day record of $77,000 on the second day of his running, besting Jenning’s own single-day record of $75,000. After seven days on the show he lost to Jelisa Castrodale, but ultimately earned $231,200.
Collins made her debut on Jeopardy! in 2014 and won over $400,000 during a 20-day run from April 21 to May 30 that year.
The headlines are definitely happier news for Jeopardy!. In November 2024, the show came under fire after contestant Heather Ryan answered a sexist clue. Ryan appeared on the October 28, 2024, episode of the show and was confronted with a clue in the “Complete the Rhyming Phrase…” category that read, “Men seldom make passes…”
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Ryan completed the sentence, answering with “girls who wear glasses.”
Jennings immediately apologized to Ryan, who was wearing glasses. In an interview published in Binghamton University’s student newspaper on November 4, Ryan said the clue was “definitely an odd choice.”
“I think it made everybody in the audience and on stage, and Ken Jennings too, a little uncomfortable,” she said at the time. “It was like, ‘Oh, that was unexpected.’ Maybe we choose better rhyming phrases in 2024. Unfortunately, there are still girls who are [in] middle school and they don’t want to wear their glasses and they’re losing out on their education. So, I think it’s much better to be able to see than anything else.”
Ryan ultimately came in second during the game, losing by $1 to Ian Taylor, a food sales rep from Cleveland, Ohio. Despite the clue controversy, she assured the newspaper, “I had a great time. Everybody there was very welcoming.”
