Oxford makes appearance on ‘Jeopardy!’ in Double Jeopardy

Any Oxonians watching the afternoon edition of “Jeopardy!” on Wednesday were treated to a rare question concerning the city.

During the February 7 episode of “Jeopardy!”, which is also episode No. 7,932 to any of the show’s aficionados, the show moved into Double Jeopardy and featured a category “Independent Book Stores.”

One of the contestants, high school teacher Bryan Coyle, picked the book store category for $800. The question directly mentioned local book store Square Books.

Coyle didn’t get a chance to answer the question, as it was stolen by fellow contestant Bif Reiser, a mathematician from Portland, Oregon. Reiser answered it correctly, and would go on to win the game with a final total of $28,001.

Wednesday’s question was the first time Oxford made an appearance on “Jeopardy!” since 2017, when host Alex Trebek asked two questions involving Oxford in a span of a month.

In December 2017, “Jeopardy!” included a category about state universities. The $600 question asked for the state university that lies in the city of Oxford.

The correct answer was either What is Ole Miss, or just What is Mississippi, but that’s an easy one.

Just one month prior, in November 2017, there was an entire category dedicated to the state of Mississippi. The $800 question, mentioning one of Oxford’s most famous residents, was: “He modeled his fictional Yoknapatawpha County on the area around his hometown of Oxford.”

The answer was Who is William Faulkner.