Who are Eddie and Kelli Timanus? 'Jeopardy!'s first blind contestant met his wife over shared admiration for trivia game show
CULVER CITY, CALIFORNIA: 'Jeopardy!' contestants are known to walk away from the Alex Trebek stage with their prize money and a chance to be viewed by millions on TV. However, some contestants were lucky to have ended up with more than just that.
Eddie and Kelli Timanus is a couple with one the most extraordinary love stories involving the trivial game show 'Jeopardy!'. The latest episode of the 'This is Jeopardy: The Story of America's Favorite Quiz Show' podcast delved into the heartwarming story of how they met.
Who are Eddie and Kelli Timanus?
Eddie was a major 'Jeopardy!' champ from Trebek's hosting days, who joined 'Jeopardy!' in 1999, becoming the first blind contestant to be a part of the show. Notably, several adjustments were made to accommodate Eddie's needs as a person with a disability, such as clues being written in Braille along with a Braille keyboard available for communication. Eddie became a 'Jeopardy!' champ, reigning for five days, making it a major achievement back then as the game's rules capped contestants at a five-day streak. Interestingly, his mother, Terri Timanus, was also a contestant on the show in 1991. While Kelli was never a contestant on 'Jeopardy!', she was a huge fan, which ultimately led her to meet Eddie. She currently works as a children's coordinator at Community of Faith, having previously worked as a school teacher and a homeschool educator.
Eddie and Kelli Timanus' love story involving 'Jeopardy!'
Eddie and Kelli met through a Yahoo! group chat made for 'Jeopardy!' fans. At the time, Kelli was a teacher, while Eddie had already won over many viewers of the trivia game show, including his to-be in-laws. Kelli was in the chat looking for a way to engage her students through a similar game show-like setting in her classroom. "I sent something to the group, you know, just kind of, Hey, here's the word of the day, it's 'whammy.' How fun is that?" Eddie told Buzzy Cohen, the host of the 'This is Jeopardy' podcast. "There was a post that fit with what we were teaching," Kelli said, sharing her side of the story, adding, "It was how the word “whammy” grew and got into American English. And later I told Eddie, Thank you for posting that. I used that in my class today. And it was really kind of cool." The two got closer to each other after meeting a few times and decided to get married. Now, Eddie and Kelli have been together for several years and share a son named Evan.
