Jackie Fuchs, The Bassist From 1970s Rock Band The Runaways, Is Killing It On ‘Jeopardy!’

Uttering the phrase Celebrity Jeopardy! usually brings two things to mind. One of them is almost certainly Will Ferrel as an extremely embittered Alex Trebek taking guff from Burt Reynolds on Saturday Night Live. The other would be, if you’re a true fan of Jeopardy!, maybe the famous image of Andy Richter sitting victorious after a game in which Wolf Blitzer ended deep into the negatives but still played Final Jeopardy!, a thing that isn’t even possible in a game not conducted for the benefit of charitable foundations.

That last point brings up one other thing that might come to mind. Celebrity Jeopardy!, you see, is much easier than regular Jeopardy! The questions are about pasta and current events and are generally softballs, even if Blitzer doesn’t know what penne is. The common refrain heard by Jeopardy! heads during the celebrity or kids or college tournament is that these fools would get wrecked if they were to play the real deal, not the deviations from the norm.

But at least one famous musician is proving that notion is extremely incorrect, even though she didn’t reveal that she was famous until well after she was a Jeopardy! champion. Enter Jackie, an “attorney/writer” from California who began her run on the show on December 14, knocking off the show’s reigning champion and taking home a cool $14,200 in the process. She returned the next day to win again, and by day three she finally revealed who she actually was in her “interesting fact” segment of the program.

https://twitter.com/CoolJepStories/status/1075181033719517185

That’s right: Jackie is Jackie Fuchs, who used to perform as Jackie Fox when she was the bassist in The Runaways. Yes, the Joan Jett and Lita Ford Runaways, who made four albums in the 1970s. Fuchs has obviously been quite successful since the band broke up in 1979, just maybe not musically. As Pitchfork notes, Fuchs has also appeared on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire and The Chase in 2013. But Jeopardy! is her best run yet. And the show is having a bit of fun with Jackie now that she’s revealed who she is.

Fuchs is an excellent Jeopardy! player, too. And she’s had a super interesting life.

https://twitter.com/CoolJepStories/status/1074818391213510661

It’s kind of amazing that she waited three episodes into her run as champion to mention that she was in one of the most influential all-female bands of the 70s. And her “get to know you” fact on Thursday is equally amazing.

https://twitter.com/CoolJepStories/status/1075543439461310464

I officially hope she goes on a Ken Jennings-like run and never leaves.

Fuchs really has been killing it on the show, though the Jeopardy! Twitter account poked fun at her for blanking on a Charlie And The Chocolate Factory answer.

The show has been extremely musical of late, as Trebek even showed us as a member of KISS during Jeoprady‘s Halloween episode. But Fuchs is now a game away from doing something no musician or celebrity like Wolf Blitzer can do in the easy Jeopardy: qualify for the exclusive Tournament of Champions.