Buzzy Cohen | |
---|---|
Born | Austin David Cohen March 5, 1985 Short Hills, New Jersey, U.S. |
Education | Columbia University (BA) |
Alma mater | Pingry School |
Occupations |
|
Years active | 2016-present |
Known for | Jeopardy! 2017 Tournament of Champions winner "The Stunner" on The Chase |
Spouse | Elisha Levin (m. 2011) |
Children | 2 |
Austin David "Buzzy" Cohen (born March 5, 1985) is a recording music industry executive and trivia enthusiast from Los Angeles, California, best known for his association with the game show Jeopardy! since 2016. Cohen was the winner of the 2017 Tournament of Champions and later appeared in the All-Star Games in 2019 and as a guest host for the show's 2021 Tournament of Champions following longtime host Alex Trebek's death.
Cohen grew up in Millburn, New Jersey. [1] He graduated from the Pingry School in 2003, [2] [3] and graduated from Columbia College of Columbia University with a BA in music in 2007. [4] [5] [6]
Cohen won $164,603 over nine games in April and May 2016. [7] Many of his victories were guaranteed victories, which allowed Cohen to wager nothing and use his final response to make sarcastic remarks toward Alex Trebek, a humorous style that earned Cohen both praise and disdain from Jeopardy! fans. [8] [9] He later returned for the 2017 Tournament of Champions, which he won, collecting the grand prize of $250,000.
Cohen appeared again in the 2019 Jeopardy! All-Star Games relay tournament. His team went home with $75,000 after losing the wild card match.
Following Trebek's death, Cohen hosted the May 2021 Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions, being the youngest Jeopardy! host at age 36. [10] [11]
Since 2022, Cohen has appeared as a recurring guest and host on the Inside Jeopardy! podcast hosted by current Jeopardy! showrunners Michael Davies and Sarah Whitcomb Foss. [12]
In September 2022, Cohen appeared as a Clue Giver in the category "Fashion with Buzzy Cohen" during the Triple Jeopardy! round on the first episode Celebrity Jeopardy! on ABC. [13]
On September 29, 2022, Cohen hosted the inaugural Jeopardy! Honors event alongside Sarah Whitcomb Foss. [14]
From April to August 2023, Cohen hosted a podcast about the quiz show entitled This is Jeopardy!: The Story of America's Favorite Quiz Show for Sony Music Entertainment and Sony Pictures Television. [15]
In January 2024, Cohen hosted three radio-only "play-in" games for that year's new Champions Wildcard tournament. [16]
In April and May 2020, Cohen appeared on the revival of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire on ABC as a lifeline for comedian Hannibal Burress. [17] [18]
Cohen joined the cast of the American version of The Chase in 2022, joining as a Chaser as a replacement for the departing Ken Jennings. [19] His Chaser name is "The Stunner". [20] Fellow Chaser James Holzhauer described Cohen's playing style and persona as "happy-go-lucky", compared to Holzhauer's own cutthroat, villain-like role. [21]
In 2011, Cohen married Elisha Levin, a marketing and communications director. [22] [23] They have two daughters.
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2016-2021 | Jeopardy! | Himself | 35 episodes |
2020 | Who Wants to Be a Millionaire | Himself | 2 episodes |
2022 | The Chase | Himself | 2 episodes |
Celebrity Jeopardy! | Clue Giver | 1 episode | |
2022-present | Inside Jeopardy! | Guest/Host | 44 episodes |
2023 | This is Jeopardy!: The Story of America's Favorite Quiz Show | Himself | 16 episodes |
George Alexander Trebek was a Canadian-American game show host and television personality. He was best known for hosting the syndicated general knowledge quiz game show Jeopardy! for 37 seasons from its revival in 1984 until his death in 2020. Trebek also hosted a number of other game shows, including The Wizard of Odds, Double Dare, High Rollers, Battlestars, Classic Concentration, and To Tell the Truth. He also made appearances, usually as himself, in numerous films and television series.
Kenneth Wayne Jennings III is an American game show host, former game show contestant, and author. He is best known for his work on the syndicated quiz show Jeopardy! as a contestant and later its host. Jennings was born in Seattle, Washington but grew up in South Korea and Singapore. He worked as a computer programmer before he tried out for Jeopardy! in 2004. During his initial run, Jennings secured a consecutive 74 wins, setting records and bringing significant media attention and viewership.
John Lewis Gilbert III is an American show business personality who has worked mainly on television game shows. Originally a nightclub singer and entertainer, he has hosted and announced a number of game shows from various eras, dating as far back as the 1950s. He is known primarily for his work as the announcer and audience host for the syndicated version of the quiz show Jeopardy! since its revival in 1984.
Bradford Gates Rutter is an American game show contestant, TV host, producer, and actor. With over $5.1 million in winnings, he is currently the second-highest-earning American game show contestant of all time, behind Ken Jennings, and still the highest-earning contestant on the U.S. syndicated game show Jeopardy!.
Mark Andrew Labbett, also known by his professional nickname "The Beast", is an English professional quizzer and television personality. Since 2009 he has been one of the "chasers" on the ITV game show The Chase as "the Beast" He previously appeared between 2013 and 2015 on GSN's American version as their sole chaser; between 2016 and 2020 as one of six chasers on the Australian version; and as one of four chasers in the second season of ABC's American revival and from late February 2022 rejoined the Australian version of the show.
Michael Peterson Davies is a United States-based British television game shows producer. He is best known for bringing the game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire to American television. Since 2014, he has hosted a podcast entitled Men in Blazers alongside journalist Roger Bennett. Since 2021, he has served as the executive producer of the game show Jeopardy! following Mike Richards' departure from the program due to various controversies.
A game show is a type of radio, television, or internet program in which contestants, television personalities or celebrities, sometimes as part of a team, play a game which involves answering trivia questions or solving puzzles, usually for prizes. Game shows are usually distinguishable from reality television competition shows, in which the competition consumes an entire season of episodes; in a game show, prizes can typically be won in a single match. Beginning with the first five-figure and six-figure game show jackpots in the mid-1950s, a succession of contestants on various quiz shows of the era each set records. Teddy Nadler of The $64,000 Challenge, the highest-scoring contestant of the 1950s era, was not surpassed until 1980, when Thom McKee won $312,700 on Tic-Tac-Dough. Between 1999 and 2001, during a brief boom in high-stakes game shows, the record was broken six times. Both the 1955–1958 and 1999–2001 eras of rapidly set and broken records were driven primarily by one-upmanship between the networks each trying to secure bragging rights and ratings by inflating their prize offerings, rather than the merits of the contestants themselves. American daytime television has historically had smaller prize budgets for game shows that air in that daypart.
Jeopardy! is an American television game show created by Merv Griffin. The show is a quiz competition that reverses the traditional question-and-answer format of many quiz shows. Rather than being given questions, contestants are instead given general knowledge clues in the form of answers and they must identify the person, place, thing, or idea that the clue describes, phrasing each response in the form of a question.
Jeopardy! is an American media franchise that began with a television quiz show created by Merv Griffin, in which contestants are presented with clues in the form of answers, and must phrase their responses in the form of a question. Over the years, the show has expanded its brand beyond television and been licensed into products of various formats.
The Chase is an American television quiz show adapted from the British program of the same name. It premiered on August 6, 2013, on the Game Show Network (GSN). It was hosted by Brooke Burns and featured Mark Labbett as the "chaser". A revival of the show premiered on January 7, 2021, on ABC. It is hosted by Sara Haines and initially featured as the chasers Jeopardy! champions James Holzhauer, Ken Jennings, and Brad Rutter. Labbett returned as a chaser in June 2021, before stepping down in 2022 along with Jennings. In their place are Buzzy Cohen, Brandon Blackwell, and Victoria Groce.
Arthur Chu is an American columnist and former contestant on Jeopardy!, a syndicated U.S. game show. Chu first became known for the unusual style of play he adopted during his eleven-game winning streak on Jeopardy!. When the shows aired, Chu attracted criticism from many for jumping from category to category rather than selecting clues in sequential order, a strategy known as the "Forrest Bounce", named for former champion Chuck Forrest.
James Holzhauer is an American game show contestant and professional sports gambler. He is the third-highest-earning American game show contestant of all time. Holzhauer is best known for his 32-game winning streak as champion on the quiz show Jeopardy! from April to June 2019, during which he set multiple single-game records for winnings, and for winning the following Tournament of Champions that November.
Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time is a special tournament limited-run series of the game show Jeopardy! that took place in January 2020. The tournament was produced for ABC and aired on the network in prime time. This was the second time a Jeopardy! competition aired on network television ; the first occurred in 1990 when the special tournament series Super Jeopardy! was carried by ABC.
Matthew Benjamin Amodio is an American mathematician and game show contestant who won 38 consecutive games on the game show Jeopardy! in 2021, the third-longest streak in the show's history, behind Ken Jennings and Amy Schneider. A PhD student in computer science at Yale University, Amodio won $1,519,601 in 39 appearances on Jeopardy!, making him the third millionaire contestant on the show in regular-season play. Across all American game shows, Amodio is the tenth highest-earning contestant of all time. His run on the show has been called the "Amodio Rodeo".
Jeopardy! is an American quiz game show in which contestants use certain strategies and skills to increase their chances of winning each game, win the most games, and ensure large winnings.
Mattea Roach is a Canadian broadcaster and game show contestant who held a 23-game winning streak on the game show Jeopardy! from April 5, 2022, to May 6, 2022. Roach was the most successful Canadian to play Jeopardy! and is placed in sixth for all-time regular season wins. Roach won US$560,983 throughout their run, getting the correct response to 93 percent of buzzed-in clues. During their 24th game, they lost to Danielle Maurer by just US$1. With their streak, Roach qualified for the season's Tournament of Champions. Roach placed second in the first season of Jeopardy! Masters, which aired in 2023.
Jeopardy! Masters is an American game show hosted by Ken Jennings on ABC. Its first season featured six recent notable Jeopardy! champions competing against each other in a "Champions League-style" format. It premiered on May 8, 2023. In February 2024, it was announced that the show would be renewed for a second season which premiered on May 1, 2024.
Victoria Groce is an American quiz player and game show contestant.
Township native Austin 'Buzzy' Cohen says he applied to be on the hit quiz show, Jeopardy! on a whim.