One of my favorite things about Jeopardy is you never know what categories and questions you’re going to get. You’ll typically get some geography, history and literature, but that could be Asian rivers, Napoleon and JD Salinger or it could be South American borders, Egyptian Pharaohs and Twilight. Current Jeopardy champion Drew Basile found that out the hard way on Friday when he tried and failed to answer a question about Stephenie Meyer’s series. Fortunately, it led to a snarky Ken Jennings retort that’s been getting some snickers and nodding approvals on social media.
The answer in question was about the infamous Renesmee Cullen. Jennings was looking for the name of the Twilight character who fell in love with her when she was a baby. Basile incorrectly guessed Edward, who is her father, which led to Jennings saying he was looking for Jacob, which is “almost as gross.” You can watch the zinger below…
Drew and the Twilight Series. #survivor #survivor45 @DrewBasile45 pic.twitter.com/0jEUcwI90pJune 22, 2024
Now, those of you who are very plugged into Twilight don’t need any explanation here. I’m sure you’ve already mentally dealt with the weirdness of Renesmee and Jacob and have come to terms with it. Perhaps you’ve even had some spirited debates with other Twilight fans about it, but for those of you who are out of the loop, pull up a chair and prepare to get your weirded out face on.
Twilight is, among other things, about a love triangle between our lead, Bella Swan, her vampire suitor Edward Cullen and a werewolf named Jacob Blake. To the surprise of almost no one, she eventually chooses Edward, but rather than leave Jacob to find his own destiny with a different, unrelated woman, author Stephenie Meyer instead has him “imprint” on Bella and Edward’s baby Renesmee. This basically means he falls in love with her and decides they’re destined to be together when she grows up. In the books, he even gives her a promise ring. It’s supposed to be a happy ending that bonds everyone together, but it gives a lot of fans the ick, including Ken Jennings and also, me.
One more quick note, if you’re reading this and wondering why the name of the Jeopardy winner Drew Basile sounds familiar, it’s because he was a contestant on Survivor 45. He had a fantastic run during the season, which is somewhat divisive amongst fans. Some of his fellow former castaways have been cheering him on via social media. He’s now won three Jeopardy episodes and heads into next week as returning champion. If he can cobble together a few more wins, he’ll for sure make the yearly Tournament Of Champions, which is an extremely high honor for any Jeopardy player.
