Jeopardy Contestant Officially Breaks Record for Lowest Score Ever

LeVar Burton's week guest-hosting Jeopardy got off to an interesting start, with one contestant [...]

By Jamie Lovett

LeVar Burton's week guest-hosting Jeopardy got off to an interesting start, with one contestant posting the lowest score in Jeopardy history. Patrick Peace, a product specialist from California, did not compete in Final Jeopardy because his total after Double Jeopardy was -$7,400. That's lower than the previous record-low score of -$6,800, posted by Stephanie Hull in March 2015. Pearce was already in the hole at -$200 at the end of the Jeopardy round, but double Jeopardy only saw him fall further behind the other contestants. Ultimately, current Jeopardy champion Matt Amodio of Connecticut extended his winning streak to four days and lifted his overall total to $122,400.

Burton is hosting Jeopardy all week long after a viral fan petition put the Star Trek: The Next Generation star into the guest-hosting mix. Burton says in an interview with the Seattle times that Monday's performance wasn't what he'd hoped it'd be, but that his wife helped him bounce back. "Being at home, it feels like a really relaxed half-hour, but it's not relaxed at all," Burton "You can't let your focus drop for a nanosecond. I came backstage after taping the first episode and I said to Stephanie [his wife], 'Well, how did I do?' She said, 'ehhh' Now, this is a woman who loves me enough to tell me the truth. She said it wasn't me I made it my business for the next four chances at bat to just be myself, to forget about the procedure, to forget about the process, stop trying, stop focusing on the wrong thing. You're not going to be smooth as Alex, let go of that. But what you can bring to the table is you. So that became my point of focus. And when it did, I started having fun."

Burton is hoping to become late host Alex Trebek's permanent replacement on Jeopardy. In April, he made his case for getting the job during an interview with Entertainment Weekly.

"I've thought and thought and thought — I've asked friends and family to help me identify someone out there who's more qualified for the job than I am," Burton says. "I don't believe there is anyone out there who is better suited for this job than me. And I will go to my grave believing that… I think my whole career is an advertisement for being the host of Jeopardy."

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