January 24, 2024
Eric McCandless/Disney
In a close match that aired Tuesday, 'Abbott Elementary' star Lisa Ann Walter came from behind to win the 'Celebrity Jeopardy!' finals. She earned $1 million for charity.
Lisa Ann Walter, from "Abbott Elementary," can now add "Celebrity Jeopardy!" champion to her list of accomplishments.
In the final round of the "Jeopardy!" spinoff show, which aired Tuesday on ABC, Walter came from behind at the very last moment to beat her competitors, journalist Mo Rocca and sports commentator Katie Nolan. Thanks to her victory, Walter earned $1 million for the charity of her choice, the Entertainment Community Fund.
Walter told host Ken Jennings that she was "terrified" heading into the tournament finals, and despite her solid trivia skills, she wasn't leading at the end of any of the game's three rounds.
In the first "Jeopardy!" round, Walter lost $400 on a "Daily Double" clue and finished in second behind Rocca. Ironically, as Walter plays a teacher in a Philly public school on the ABC sitcom "Abbott Elementary," the round contained a clue about the City of Brotherly Love.
The clue read, "Located twelve miles outside of it, Villanova offers a course on 'the history of' this Pennsylvania City."
Walter was the first to buzz in, exclaiming "What is Philadelphia!"
The "Double Jeopardy!" round contained punny clue categories that played off the finalists' names. For instance, there was a "Lisa, Ann or Walter?" category, in which players had to choose one of those first names as their response to the clues. Walter finished that round in last place, and she fell further behind in the "Triple Jeopardy!" round despite gaining some ground with a "Daily Double" wager of $1,500.
Heading into "Final Jeopardy!," Walter had $13,800, Nolan had $19,500 and Rocca had $21,100. Jennings pointed out earlier in the match that Walter had never missed a "Final Jeopardy!" clue, unlike her competitors. And Walter continued that streak in the finals.
The clue, in the "Literary Clichés" category, was, "Many mystery fans blame 'The Door,' a 1930 Mary Roberts Rinehart novel in which a servant kills a nurse, for this 4-word cliché."
Walter was the only one to answer correctly, with "The butler did it." With her lofty wager of $13,700, Walter brought her total to $27,500 and won the game and its million-dollar grand prize for charity. She became extremely emotional as she accepted the "Celebrity Jeopardy!" trophy.
"Your mom would be so excited right now," Jennings said, referring to Walter's mother. Walter previously said she believed her mother, a trivia fan, "intervened for me from beyond" in helping her achieve success on the show.
"CBS Sunday Morning" correspondent Rocca came in second and took home $250,000 for his charity of choice, while Nolan — a TV personality who has worked for Apple TV+, ESPN and Fox Sports — finished in third and earned $100,000 for charity.
On the road to Walter's victory, she narrowly beat actors Mira Sorvino and Utkarsh Ambudkar in the semifinals in an episode that aired earlier this month. Before that, she won a quarterfinals event in October against "The Office" actor Brian Baumgartner and "Veep" actor Timothy Simons.
"One of the greatest nights of my career," Walter wrote on Instagram about her quiz show victory. "I drove home thinking 'I feel ok now. I don’t have to win another thing - that was enough'. Dream come true stuff."
Fans can catch Walter as the sassy, Italian American second-grade teacher Melissa Schemmenti when "Abbott Elementary" returns to ABC for a third season Wednesday, Feb. 7.
Follow Franki & PhillyVoice on Twitter: @wordsbyfranki
| @thePhillyVoice
Like us on Facebook: PhillyVoice
Have a news tip? Let us know.
