Jeopardy! (found episode of quiz show featuring Nickelodeon characters; 2003)
Jeopardy! is an American quiz show created by Merv Griffin, which carries the name and ruleset as the 1964 series of the same name. The series has over 9,000 episodes across 40 seasons. Throughout the series’ run, many different events have taken place, such as teen tournaments, celebrity weeks, and kids’ weeks.[1]
History
From January 6, to January 10, 2003, a special week of episodes titled the Holiday Kids Week aired, featuring contestants aged 10-12 years old. Episodes would often include categories and clues which involved kids’ pop culture, featuring video games, celebrities, and television series. The episodes were taped in November 2002.[2]
On January 9, 2003, a Kids Week episode of the series premiered (Episode #4229), with contestants Francis Musella, Allyson McDonough, and Patrick Derocher. It is most notable for its inclusion of a category during the “Double Jeopardy!” round featuring various Nickelodeon franchises such as Blue’s Clues, Rugrats, and Rocket Power. Included in this category is a clue featuring Nickelodeon character SpongeBob SquarePants, alongside original animation and voice acting by Tom Kenny. For the $1200 clue, SpongeBob states:[2]
Prompt: Ahoy, I'm SpongeBob SquarePants! My pet snail Gary & I live in one of these tropical fruits in Bikini Bottom.
Correct Response: Pineapple
Allison gives the correct response in the episode, however Patrick had already gained a substantial lead which he would keep throughout the rest of the episode, winning with $29,001. Francis obtained second place with $24,500, and Allison got third place with $10,800.[2]
Availability
Like many Jeopardy! episodes, the Holiday Kids Week episodes fell into obscurity shortly after its premiere. The episode that aired on January 9th specifically attracted people's attention due to the Nickelodeon category and more specifically the SpongeBob clue. The first portion of footage from the episode to appear online is in a YouTube video uploaded by chutefan2011 on Apr 7, 2018, showing the Blue's Clues-themed answer from the Nick category.
On July 4, 2023, Lost Media Wiki forums user buzznuckets mentioned it alongside the SpongeBob clue.[3] Because no animation was present in the available clip, the validity of the animated SpongeBob clue was put into question. However, on July 5, 2024, Internet Archive user SamBonzi uploaded the episode in its entirety to the website, which confirmed the existence of the animated segment.
Videos
References
- ↑ The official Jeopardy! page about the show. Retrieved 16 Jul '24
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 J! Archive page on Episode #4229. Retrieved 16 Jul '24
- ↑ Lost Media Wiki forum thread about the SpongeBob clue. Retrieved 17 Jul '24