Jeopardy! casts actor from famous Christmas movie to compete on show as fans fear ‘odd’ trend may be against the rules

JEOPARDY! fans are set to notice a familiar face on their screens after an actor from a famous Christmas movie was cast to compete on the show.

Brett Kelly, 30, found fame playing loveable loser kid Thurman Merman in the 2003 holiday film Bad Santa.

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An actor from a famous Christmas movie is set to appear on Jeopardy!Credit: Getty

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Brett Kelly will compete on the quiz show this weekCredit: Jeopardy!

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He starred as Thurman Murman in Bad SantaCredit: Alamy
The actor was just eight years old when he landed the role of Thurman and he reprised it 13 years later for the movie’s sequel Bad Santa 2.

Brett also starred in the 2007 horror movie Trick ‘r Treat and, most recently, has appeared as Cecil Patterson in the Canadian series Family Law.

But this week, Brett will appear as himself on the ABC quiz show, hosted by Ken Jennings, and try his luck at winning a big dollar prize.

Jeopardy! has confirmed his casting on its Contestant Zone section of its website, which reads: “See who’s competing this week, find out who our returning champion is and catch other must-see moments happening on Jeopardy!”

Wednesday October 23 feature’s Brett’s headshot and states: “BRETT KELLY, SURREY, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA, ACTOR.”

Fans have been discussing Brett’s casting online and have questioned whether it breaks the rules.

Writing on Reddit, one viewer said: “The actor who played ‘The Kid’ in Bad Santa, Brett Kelly, with that instantly recognizable face, is going to be a contestant on Wednesday’s Jeopardy episode.

“He was also in Trick r’ Treat. This is becoming an odd trend I’m noticing on game shows where I see recognizable actors or former actors from popular movies appear as civilian contestants.”

A second replied: “Thurman Merman?!?!”

And a third added: “Nice! I just watched Trick R Treat and immediately thought ‘isn’t that the kid from bad Santa?'”

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But on whether his appearance breaks any rules, one Jeopardy! fan wrote: “They’re working actors. Most actors are not ‘celebrities’ per se even if some eagle eyed people recognize them.”

Chiming in, someone else said: “There’s really no rule prohibiting any celebrities from appearing as normal contestants on game shows, however one rule that applies to everyone is that you can’t be related to, or have a business relationship with anyone connected to the production, and the more famous you are, the more likely it becomes that you’re probably going to have some connection, however distant, to someone working at Sony or CBS Media Ventures, which disqualifies you from appearing in normal gameplay.”

The chat also brought up other examples where notable actors had appeared on Jeopardy!, including Nicholas Cascone.

Jeopardy! Contestant Rules

Passing Jeopardy!’s online Anytime Test is hard enough, but there are also many rules players must follow once they make it to the stage:

The returning champion is always at the leftmost podium and keeps playing until they lose.
Contestants don’t have to say “who is” or “what is” in the first round but must do so in Double Jeopardy! and Final Jeopardy.
Contestants can change their responses as long as Ken Jennings or the judges haven’t made a ruling.
The minimum wager for a Daily Double is $5. The minimum wager for Final Jeopardy! is $0.
Written responses in Final Jeopardy! do not have to be spelled correctly, but they must be phonetically correct (the judges decide this).
If there’s a tie after Final Jeopardy, the tied players enter a bonus clue shootout, and whoever buzzes in first correctly wins.
If all three contestants wager everything in Final Jeopardy! and are incorrect, leaving them with $0, there will be no returning champion (it’s happened before—six times).

The orthopaedic physician worked as an actor before turning to medicine and played Bobby Buell, a member of Brock Lovett’s search crew, in the 1997 blockbuster Titanic.

In March 2021, Nicholas appeared in season 37 of Jeopardy! as a civilian. The episode was hosted by Katie Couric and he walked away with $26,801 in winnings.

He lost his next game, which was hosted by Dr. Mehmet Oz.

Chipping into the Reddit thread, one poster said: “There was the actor who was in Titanic that was on Jeopardy.

“There’s also the bearded guy from those horrible Dr. Rick commercials for Progressive that was also on Jeopardy.”

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Brett reprised the role of Thurman Murman for Bad Santa 2 in 2016Credit: Getty

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Fans have questioned whether the actor’s appearance ‘breaks rules’Credit: Jeopardy!