LeVar Burton—the award-winning actor from Roots and Star Trek: The Next Generation and executive producer/host of Reading Rainbow—made his highly-anticipated debut as a fill-in host for Jeopardy! on Monday.
The episode was an exciting one for the actor who won an Emmy at just 20 years-old for playing Kunta Kinte in 1977's Roots. Burton expressed he's been a life-long fan of Jeopardy! and always dreamed of hosting the quiz show.
But it was also an unfortunate one for a contestant who broke a show record—for the lowest score in the history of the popular game show.
@Jeopardy sets a new record! A new lowest score ever was achieved on the July 27th airing by contestant Patrick Ringsinalot! Congrats! #Jeopardy— Johnovision (@Johnovision) 1627356031
The score for contestant Patrick Pearce, a product specialist from Fountain View, California, ended the Jeopardy! round with $200.
His fate was sealed during Double Jeopardy when his earnings dipped further into the negative range at $7,400.
Pearce's negative score outranked the previous record set by contestant Stephanie Hull, who posted negative $6,800 since her March 2015 appearance, according to Slate.
Twitter users marked the occasion by ribbing the contestant and also offering some sympathy.
Lowest Jeopardy score ever should be his new Bumble bio.— Michael Sheehan (@Michael Sheehan) 1627344016
Is this guy Patrick\u2019s negative $7400 a record low? Very impressive— Gonzo (@Gonzo) 1627343625
According to my Jeopardy-obsessed son, the dude who finished in the negative set a record for the lowest score in the modern era.— Noel Murray (@Noel Murray) 1627345454
My heart went out to Patrick. Just an increasingly bad set of educated guesses in an ever growing sense of desperation.— RockGolf (@\ud83c\udfe0, re\ud83e\udd71) (@RockGolf (@\ud83c\udfe0, re\ud83e\udd71)) 1627393795
Poor guy, he lost his memory constantly!— Miss Chloe (@Miss Chloe) 1627400099
condolences to the new recordholder for worst day ever on Jeopardy, Patrick Pearcepic.twitter.com/JecMLYjQms— Dan Kois (@Dan Kois) 1627345393
Wait, hold up. Did I (and probably a whole lotta other folks) just tune in for the first time in a LONG time to watch the lowest recorded score in #Jeopardy history? If so, now I feel even worse for him— DOUG (@DOUG) 1627343932
Due to his negative score, Pearce was not eligible to continue on to the Final Jeopardy! round.
Kathleen McHugh of Detroit and Matt Amodio of New Haven, Connecticut were the remaining competitors.
Amodio came out as the winner, which brought his four-day winning streak to $122,400.
@therealjeffreyross/Instagram
@therealjeffreyross/Instagram
@therealjeffreyross/Instagram
@therealjeffreyross/Instagram
@therealjeffreyross/Instagram
@therealjeffreyross/Instagram
@therealjeffreyross/Instagram
@therealjeffreyross/Instagram
@therealjeffreyross/Instagram
@therealjeffreyross/Instagram
@therealjeffreyross/Instagram
@mikeredmond/Bluesky
@realDonaldTrump/Truth Social