The Mindy Project alum previously dominated in Celebrity Jeopardy in February 2023, placing as a semifinalist, becoming the only celebrity player in the 2024 Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions.
Ike Barinholtz has just cemented himself in celebrity game show history.
After winning Celebrity Jeopardy last year and then advancing to Tournament of Champions, the Mindy Project alum proved just how much he loves trivia when he emerged victorious on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire Tuesday night.
Ike and his dad, Alan, who appeared in the mockumentary comedy Jury Duty last year, became the first pair to win the $1,000,000 grand prize on the revamped celebrity version of the long-running game show.
The father-son duo took home the million dollars for charity of choice: the ASL Program at Los Encinos School.
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During the episode, the Barinholtz’s correctly answered a wide array of questions about raccoons, the Disney movie Tangled, Renaissance art, sleep apnea and more before reaching the final two questions.
They ended up using one of their lifelines on Question 14, which asked where explorer Ferdinand Magellan died.
They narrowed down the options with their 50/50 lifeline before using their phone a friend lifeline to confirm the Philippines as the right answer.
The 15th and final question was: “Not including blanks or bonus spaces, the highest-valued three-letter Scrabble word is ‘zax,’ which is a what?”
Stumped on the answer, Ike and Alan decided to use the Ask the Host lifeline to get host Jimmy Kimmel‘s input.
And they made the right choice, because as it turns out, Kimmel just so happens to be one of the best Scrabble players around.
“I’m gonna tell you somethin’ that’s gonna blow your mind,” Kimmel told Ike and his dad. “You may have won Celebrity Jeopardy but I won a big celebrity Scrabble tournament here in LA.”
Kimmel ultimately guessed the answer was D: “Tool for cutting roofing slates.”
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Ike and Alan took the late night talk show host’s advice and guessed D — and they were right!
Confetti fell on the pair as both father and son up and celebrated their huge victory, with Kimmel presenting Ike and Alan with a massive $1 million check for the ASL Program.
This is the third season of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire featuring celebrity contestants. It’s also the 25th anniversary of the iconic game show, which was originally hosted by the late Regis Philbin.
Ike dominated on Celebrity Jeopardy last year, beating Wil Wheaton and Patton Oswalt to win over $1 million for charity. He became the only celebrity player in the 2024 Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions, where he ultimately placed third.
