'Jeopardy' player reveals how the show helped him find love and Ken Jennings' reaction said it all

“Jeopardy!” contestants often narrate stories from their personal lives, and sometimes they also draw a connection to the show. Andrew Hayes, the current champion, recently revealed how the show helped him find love and settle down with the woman of his dreams, according to a Parade report. Few people, perhaps, have ever bonded so much over the show that they ended up falling in love and getting married.

The Tupelo, Mississippi, law student revealed the story in the opening segment of the episode that aired on April 16. The woman he eventually ended up getting married to wasn’t a big fan of the show at the time, but at least it got the contestant a date. If Hayes’s story is to be believed, it did a lot more than just that for him that night.

"When I met my wife, I was living by myself, and I was a big Jeopardy! fan. And so, on one of our first dates, I said, 'Oh, you know, why don't you come over for dinner and I'll make something and we can watch Jeopardy!?'" Hayes said. Host Ken Jennings acknowledged that it was quite a romantic gesture on his part. "Yes, it's an aphrodisiac," the player added, and the host couldn’t control his laughter.

Hayes wanted to look good in front of his date, but thought that he would not know enough answers to the episode they were going to watch. So he ended up watching it beforehand, but waited a long time to make that confession to her. "I confessed at some point before the wedding but after she said yes [to my proposal]," he said, which made the host laugh out loud even more than before.

This might have been the funny and playful side of Hayes, but he is a serious competitor when it comes to “Jeopardy!” He recently became a champion and is all set to go on and compete in the Tournament of Champions in the future. It is a competition that Jennings has been successful in. During the episode in which he was crowned champion, the contestant was so far ahead that he didn’t even have to wager any money to win.

It was Final Jeopardy, and the question read, “An online article about this landmark said, 'The stones themselves look like they’re crying' & mentioned tears of…pain, hope, & joy.” First up was a man named Mike Dawson with $2400 in his purse. He answered ‘MLK Memorial,’ which was not the correct answer. He had wagered $2398 and was now left with only a couple of bucks.

Courtney Martin was up next, and she had $4200 in her purse. She answered, ‘The Wailing Wall.’ That was the correct answer. She had wagered $601, and her total now was $4801. Hayes was next, and he had wagered nothing. His answer was ‘Mt. Rushmore,' which wasn’t correct. However, he was already miles ahead of the rest with $25,200 and was crowned the “Jeopardy!” champion.