‘Jeopardy!’: Drew Basile Stunned by Shoutout From ‘Survivor’ Host Jeff Probst

Kelli Boyle
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Drew Basile on 'Jeopardy,' Jeff Probst on 'Survivor'
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That was a close call! After trailing in second for much of the game, Survivor alum Drew Basile managed to continue his Jeopardy! winning streak in the Tuesday, June 25 episode. And his win came off the heels of a special message from Survivor host Jeff Probst that Ken Jennings helped arrange. Basile was left speechless by the kind gesture.

Jennings informed Basile during the game that Probst learned of his Jeopardy! success and is proud. “He was like, ‘What a great kid! He was amazing on our show.’ He was so delighted to hear you’re doing well here.” Probst hosted Rock & Roll Jeopardy as Jennings said, and is a “big friend of the show.”

“Wow,” Basile responded to the words of support. “I don’t know what to say.” It may have brought Basile good luck, as he secured his fifth consecutive win later on. In the June 24 episode, Basile answered 33 answers correctly, a high for the season. Now, with this his fifth consecutive win in the bag, he qualifies for the Tournament of Champions. See Basile’s sweet reaction to Probst’s message below.

Guess who else has already qualified for that tournament? Andrea Harmeyer, the 15-day champ whom Basile defeated. This opens the door to a Basile and Harmeyer rematch in the future. (To qualify for ToC, you must have won five or more games in a row. Sometimes a player with four consecutive wins will be invited to play.)

Basile ended Harmeyer’s over two-week winning streak on June 19. Harmeyer’s victories were defined by her lack of interest in finding Daily Doubles and her impressive Final Jeopardy success. Harmeyer now comes in second place behind Jeopardy fan favorite James Holzhauer for the most consecutive correct Final Jeopardy answers in regular game play. Holzhauer’s record is 27, and Harmeyer sits at 11.

That streak ended the same night she lost to Basile, and this loss made her just shy of cracking into the Top 10 of all-time Jeopardy winning streaks. But she’ll have the chance to redeem herself if she participates in Tournament of Champions! And wouldn’t it be sweet to face off with the player who ended her first run?

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Basile nearly didn’t win his fifth game. In fact, it wasn’t until he found the third Daily Double of the night that he took the lead. The Survivor Season 45 alum was playing against Staci Garner, a teacher from Chicago, Illinois, and Alan Elverum, a senior quality assurance administrator from Henderson, Nevada.

Garner had a $200 lead ahead of Basile at the end of the first break, and she increased that lead in the second half of the first round. Basile got lucky when finding the third Daily Double (Elverum had found both of the prior two), and he added $3,000 to his score with his correct response. Going into Final Jeopardy, the scores were Basile with $11,800, Elverum with $7,800, and Garner with $7,400.

The Final Jeopardy category was “National Landmarks.” The clue: “From its ramparts, you can see the mouth of the Patapsco River as it flows into Chesapeake Bay.” The correct answer was, “What is Fort McHenry?” Basile and Elverum answered correctly, and the final scores were Basile with $15,600, Garner with $2,999, and Elverum with $14,801. Basile let out a huge sigh of relief and put his hand over his heart when his modest wager paid off.

Fans are excited by the prospect of a Basile and Harmeyer rematch. “Congrats to Drew for his fifth game and TOC berth. Now commences the Adriana and Drew rematch talks,” one fan wrote on the Jeopardy Reddit discussion board. Fans on X (formerly known as Twitter) were excited by the Probst shoutout. See fan reactions to the episode below. Could this be Basile’s ticket to Survivor 50, the next returning players season?

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