Danger! announces A-lister will be “first celebrity” in Tournament of Champions after dominating spin-off

Celebrity Danger! Winner Ike Barenholtz will be at the next Tournament of Champions, the show’s top boss announced on Monday.

Ike is the first non-regular contestant to ever compete and has shown that he’s not just a game, he’s “afraid” of it.

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At the grand finale of Celebrity Jeopardy! Mad TV graduate Ike won $1 million for charity and an awesome red question mark trophy.

He faced Star Trek actor Wil Wheaton and comedian Patton Oswalt in the fiery tournament-based finals.

Patton wagered his entire $36,000 in Final Jeopardy, but Ike cleverly outbid him by just $1 to win $72,001.

Mayim Bialik rushed over to Ike and presented him with the stunning looking trophy, which he held up with an enthusiastic look.

That’s the highest winning score in the spinoff’s history, according to Primetimer.

Twitter erupted when Jeopardy! Fans and even some colleagues backed him for the next $250,000 winners tournament even though the merger had never been completed.

Executive Producer Michael Davies announced on the podcast Inside Jeopardy! that they actually make it possible because of the excitement.

Boss Davies extended the invitation to the coveted winners-only tournament on the podcast in a sweet interview with him.

“I HUMILLY ACCEPT!”

The boss said: “I can reveal that I’ve officially invited you to the Tournament of Champions. No celebrity winner has ever been invited. You are the first and your answer is?

Ike replied, “I accept very humble, humble, I say humble, because if I get destroyed, it’s going to be humiliating,” he joked.

Ike will join six big winners (so far) from the currently airing season.

So far it’s four-day winner Matthew Marcus, six-day winner Troy Meyer, fan favorite Ray Lalonde with 13 wins, former poker ace Cris Pannullo with 21 wins, five-day champion Luigi de Guzman and the four-day champion and priest David Sibley.

It takes four wins to qualify, but Jeopardy! notes that the mile marker is at the “producers’ sole discretion”.

Ike revealed that he is an avid viewer and is particularly nervous when facing Cris.

“Oh Chris! He’s so reserved and unemotional. He’s got ice water in his veins, so that’s scary.”

Ike also said he had dinner with the executive producer and joked with him, “I always make room for two things; Dessert and Jeopardy!.”

The boss concluded, “So you heard it here first!”

The game show’s bosses announced a few months ago that they weren’t opposed to the idea, and after Ike won, fans jumped in too.

‘THAT WILL BE INTERESTING!’

After the news broke, fans on Reddit celebrated as one wrote: “This is going to be really interesting! Good for Ike – he really seems to be a die-hard Jeopardy fan.

“I know all of the changes are making some people uncomfortable, but I’m more excited for Jeopardy than I’ve been in a long time.”

Another didn’t feel it, writing: “Celebrity Jeopardy is such watered down novelty. I would prefer the TOC to be limited to regular season champions and traditional tournament winners.

A celebrity winner overshadows the achievement of the people who worked hard to get to the TOC.”

“That, 100%. I don’t like this idea at all,” wrote a third.

Celebrity Danger! The material is mind-bogglingly easier than the regular show, while the $250,000 Annual Winners tournament material is even more difficult.

But other fans agreed there was only one way to find out how that would go.

Ike has also made it clear that he is a devotee, as he shared during the competition: “I saw Alex Trebek had three different mustaches” – he also revealed that he is a member of the LearnedLeague, a secretive online trivia Club that is by recommendation only.

Hosted by Ken Jennings in 2022, the event had 21 participants, while so far seven have qualified for the next, including Ike.

Officials also recently said they wouldn’t mind welcoming controversial three-day winner Yogesh Raut, despite his Facebook rants against the show after the loss.

This year’s tournament will be broadcast in September 2023.

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