Teen 'Jeopardy' Contestant Reveals Appearance Caused Her 'Emotional Damage'

Photo: Getty Images, Jeopardy Productions, Inc.

You might think appearing on a Jeopardy tournament, winning, and taking home $100,000 would be one of the best experiences of anyone's life, but that was not the case for one Teen Tournament contestant, who shared on TikTok the downsides of her game show fame.

Claire Sattler ran away with the 2018 Jeopardy Teen Tournament, back when she was 16 and Alex Trebek was hosting, and while she was thrilled with the victory, she struggled with what came along with it. In a video on TikTok set to Bastille's "Pompeii" remixed with the "Emotional Damage" meme, she listed various pitfalls from her appearance, everything from "stalkers" to "nationwide cyberbullying" and even being accused of having an affair with the then 79-year-old Trebek to get answers since she wasn't "smart enough to win" on her own.

She captioned the video with two party emojis and hashtags including #jeopardy, #emotionaldamage, #trauma and #anxiety.

Claire made sure to explain in the comments that her negative feelings around the show had nothing to do with Jeopardy, rather just some jerks who watched it. She wrote, "CONTEXT: None of this was the fault of Jeopardy! or the fine folks at Jeopardy! They were all lovely and I am very grateful for my time there. This is all about the way that people online treated me AFTER the tournament."

And Claire did truly take some positives away from her time on the show, as she explained in a video following her big win.

Claire hasn't let the issues from her first appearance affect her too much either, she is back on Jeopardy as part of their High School Reunion Tournament, which features 27 former Teen Tournament contestants from 2018 and 2019. Claire, now a senior at Yale, has already made it to the semi-final round, which means she has a chance to not only win another $100,000 but also a slot in the 2023 Tournament of Champions. Tune in to the show on Monday to see how she does in the semi-final round.


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