Jeopardy! Announces First-Ever Professors Tournament with Host Mayim Bialik
Jeopardy/Instagram Mayim Bialik
Professors for $100,000!
Jeopardy! will introduce a new tournament in December that gives American professors a chance to compete for a huge prize.
The series announced the inaugural 2021 Professors Tournament on Thursday. The tournament will be styled similarly to the show's iconic Tournament of Champions, and the winner of the Professors rounds will even be guaranteed a spot in the 2022 Champions competition.
Fifteen college and university professors will compete for the $100,000 prize every weeknight from Dec. 6-17. Identities of the 15 competitors were revealed on the Jeopardy! website.
The first matchup on Dec. 6 will feature Hester Blum, an English professor at Penn State University, Gautan Hans, associate clinical professor of law at Vanderbilt University and Gary Hollis, a chemistry professor at Roanoke College.
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The Big Bang Theory alum and current Jeopardy! host Mayim Bialik, 45, spoke of filming with the educators. "It was an unbelievable thrill to see so many brilliant professors from all kinds of schools and backgrounds come together on the Jeopardy! stage," Bialik said in a statement. "There was a sense of kinship and academic camaraderie among the group, along with a healthy dose of competitiveness. That energy made this inaugural Professors Tournament incredibly special."
The announcement comes just days after the one-year anniversary of former host Alex Trebek's death at the age of 80. Jeopardy! stars and members of Trebek's family honored his legacy with memorial posts on Tuesday.
