It’s usually the big-money winners who achieve instant fame on Jeopardy!, but the game show’s newest celebrity has impressed host Alex Trebek with her energy, humor, and music-fan intensity as well as her intelligence. Jennifer Morrow has won two games thus far and will defend her champion status again on Monday night.

Morrow made an immediate splash on her first appearance, July 16: During the show’s standard getting-to-know-you interview with Trebek, Morrow pulled out a pair of drumsticks given to her by Neil Peart of the band Rush — or as Morrow said to Trebek, “the Canadian prog-rock trio Rush.” (Given this preciseness, it didn’t surprise me when Morrow was introduced on the show as “an editorial assistant from New York.”)

On Friday, Trebek described Morrow as bringing “a lot of physical energy” to the show, and indeed, she bops her head to the theme music and reads the answers on the board with quirkily original inflections.

She also bets eccentrically: She bet $2112 for a Daily Double. Trebek looked startled by the notion of a contestant betting anything other than a round number, but Rush fans understood: 2112 is the title of a 1976 Rush album.



Morrow said Peart gave her the drumsticks a while back, as a good luck charm for her then-upcoming Jeopardy! appearance. Since she won $17,800 on her first night, prog-rock fans auditioning for Jeopardy! in the future should take note. I have a feeling King Crimson is about to get a lot of requests for spare guitar picks.



Jeopardy! airs weeknights; check your local listings.