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Jeopardy! contestant Michael Menkhus shares sweet memory of watching Ken Jennings’ champ run with late grandma

Michael Menkhus opened up about how some of his earliest memories were of watching game shows with his late grandmother

A Jeopardy! contestant shared a sweet memory from his childhood with host Ken Jennings which made the player emotional. Michael Menkhus opened up about how some of his earliest memories were of watching game shows with his late grandmother.

Before the game show started, Ken asked Michael, "we mentioned watching the show with your grandmother- is appearing on the show an emotional experience for you?" To which, Michael replied, "it's obviously an emotional rollercoaster, everything about Jeopardy is an emotional rollercoaster."

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Michael recalled, "... some of my earliest memories are of sitting on her lap watching game shows... just like this," adding, "actually, probably watching your streak now that I think about it, I was about that age." The TV host smiled and said, "I love stories about how multi-generational it is, people with those memories of watching it with grandparents of friends... it's fantastic."

Ken holds the record for longest winning streak on Jeopardy! with 74 wins. The 48 year old took home over $4million. Meanwhile, Michael had mentioned his late grandmother to viewers in another episode. He said, "this has been a lifetime dream. My grandma sat me on her lap when I was a newborn to watch Jeopardy!" adding, "I'd just like to think that she's looking down and smiling right now..."

Michael is a data analyst from Kansas City. His streak was cut short on Monday, September 26, however, he took $48K during his two-day run.

In a recent incident, viewers of the quiz show Jeopardy! expressed their displeasure after host Ken Jennings allowed contestant Luigi de Guzman to correct his answer, but did not give any leeway to another contestant, Harriet Wagner in a similar situation. Luigi, who was already a four-time winner, went on to win the game once again.

Initially, Luigi misidentified a British painter, calling him 'Constant' instead of 'Constable' but was allowed by Jennings to retract his answer and correct it. Soon after, another contestant, Wagner's answer was automatically labeled 'wrong' by the co-host even though she quickly amended her answer. Fans of the show are furious, calling it an "unfair" and "biased" decision.

Many were dissatisfied with such a ruling. A thread on Twitter shows one user write, "I’m pissed at @KenJennings because [he] was unfair tonight on @Jeopardy. He allows Luigi to correct his mistake, and cut off Harriet as she was correcting her mistake… again favoring Luigi! Very obvious to me!" To this, someone else replied, "This has happened hundreds of times. The host gives one warning and then after that the answer isn’t accepted. It’s been like that for a while."

Ken is hosting the iconic game show until January 2023 while Mayim Bialik will be hosting the spinoff Celebrity Jeopardy!, which made its debut on September 25th.