‘Jeopardy!’ Champ Christine Whelchel Battled Breast Cancer During Audition

Current “Jeopardy!” champion ChristineWhelchel has her own inspirational story to tell.

Although she’s only won a few games so far, the piano teacher and church organist from Spring Hill, Tennessee, revealed that she battled breast cancer during her game show audition.

While making the contestant introductions, host Ken Jennings asked Christine about her breast cancer diagnosis.

“I was diagnosed in March of 2021, and one of the first things I did a couple of weeks after being diagnosed was take the ‘Jeopardy!’ test. And I ended up getting my audition the night before my surgery in May,” she explained.

“You auditioned the night before your surgery?” Ken asked. “Well, evidently the audition went well! You’re here. And I hope the surgery [went well] too.”

She replied, “Everything else went well and I’m cancer-free as of right now.”

Fans took to the comments to share their support for her recovery and her nail-biting win!

“Good for you Christine!” one fan wrote. “You beat cancer and now [you’re] a Jeopardy Champion! Life is good. You go girl!”

“Christine, congrats on your win and for beating cancer,” another fan commented. “You’re a rock star!”

“You go girl!” said another. “Congrats on your remission.”

“Congratulations Christine form your fellow survivors!!!” commented another.

Another commented, “Congratulations to Christine!”

Plenty more fans piled on the post to talk about her unusual win. It’s not often that a game goes down to a tie-breaker round!

On Wednesday, the two-day champion, Henry, returned to defend his two-day winnings of $27,301 against Christine and a school administrator named Patrick.

The first round featured categories like “There’s an Animal In That Title,” “Broom Service,” “Puttings the Carbs,” and “Before the Horse.” At the end of the first round, Christine was in the lead. She had $8,000, Henry had $5,800, and Patrick had $2,000 dollars.

The second round featured categories like “Notable People,” “Country Nicknames,” “Are You Smarter Than A 1905 5th Grader?” and “From P To Y.” At the end of the second round, Christine had $19,000, Henry had $17,000, and Patrick had $8,800 dollars.

The Final Jeopardy! category was “Play Characters.” The clue read: “A 1949 review noted the ‘wrong formulas for success’ of this character & ‘fatal misconceptions about his place in the scheme of things.'”

Everyone provided a correct answer of “Who is Willy Loman?” Henry doubled up to $34,000 dollars and Christine wagered just enough to tie Henry, which resulted in a very rare tie-breaker match!

The tiebreaker category was “Flowers.” The clue read: “After its inclusion in a 1915 poem, this red flower became a symbol of fallen World War I soldiers.”

Christine answered first. After providing a correct answer of “What is poppy?”, she became the new one-day champion with $34,000 dollars.

On Thursday, Christine returned to defend her one-day total of $34,000 dollars against Anna, a bar and restaurant owner, and Lucian, a law clerk. She was able to score an untouchable lead during the game. Even though she didn't answer the Final Jeopardy! question correctly, she was still able to secure a two-day total of $44,600 dollars.

On Friday, Christine returned to defend her two-day total of $44,600 dollars against Theresa, an inventory planning analyst, and Max, a creative director.

It was a very tight match. Christine and Max were neck-and-neck going into the second round and Max had almost a $4,000 dollar lead going into the Final Jeopardy! round. Christine was able to answer the Final Jeopardy! answer correctly and added $3,501 dollars to win $15,001 for a three-day total of $59,601 dollars.

Fans are eager to see Christine win again tomorrow when “Jeopardy!” returns on Monday!