Contestant Makes Cliff Clavin Joke in Final Jeopardy!, Still Wins

Hey, remember the popular sitcom Cheers? I think it was about bar in Boston or something. People knew your name. One of the guys from True Detective was on it. Ring a bell? Ask your parents.

Dumb jokes aside, Jeopardy! opened up its 31st season Monday night. Alex Trebek’s mustache reappeared!

Our eventual winner, Elizabeth Williams — a business research librarian from Washington, DC — is certainly familiar with Cheers, which is the reason for this post. Williams led going into Final Jeopardy!, but was stumped by the Authors category. She attempted to write “who is someone who’s never been in my kitchen,” referencing a famous incident involving Cliff Clavin on an episode Cheers.

The best part of this is that Williams still won $12,600 despite the joke answer. The game wasn’t a even “runaway” going into the final round, either. Wisely, she didn’t bet it all like Clavin did on the show.

If all of this is lost on you, here’s the original scene from Cheers: