Jeopardy! Contestant Redeems Himself After ‘Run-In with Some Angry Swifties’ for Getting Taylor Swift Clue Wrong

Drew Goins returned to the game show for another shot at winning — and the chance to prove himself to the singer’s fans

Drew Goins in his first ‘Jeopardy!’ appearance in September 2024; Drew Goins after getting a Taylor Swift clue correct in his January 2025 ‘Jeopardy!’ return. Photo: ABC

Jeopardy! contestant Drew Goins may have angered a few Taylor Swift fans, but it didn’t take long for him to squash the bad blood — and repair his reputation!

The Hawaii-based journalist, a fan-favorite contestant who first appeared on the show last September, returned to Jeopardy! this month in the second (and final) week of the Second Chance Tournament. Like his competitors, he was in it to win it, but he also had another mission: redeem himself in the eyes of Swift’s fans.

During his first-ever Jeopardy! appearance on Sept. 25, 2024, Goins made waves among the pop superstar’s fanbase after failing to conjure the correct response to a clue about one of her albums.

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After a Grammy-themed question category revealed an $800 tile that read, “The first of Taylor Swift’s record 4 [album of the year] Grammys was for this album in 2010,” Goins was stumped, to say the least.

In a clip of the moment shared on the official Jeopardy! Instagram account, the fan-favorite contestant appeared flustered and disappointed after he failed to name the correct answer, Fearless, instead shaking his head back and forth.

After failing to answer the Swift-related clue and a narrow loss overall, Goins said goodbye to both Jeopardy! and his chance to prove himself to the Swifties he disappointed — until now, that is.

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In his first Second Chance Tournament appearance, which was filmed last year but aired on Jan. 6, host Ken Jennings addressed the Fearless slip-up, asking Goins about the “run-in with some angry Swifties” he experienced last fall.

“I got a Taylor Swift question wrong, went home worried that the Swifties would come rip me out of my bed one night, but it turns out the angry Swiftie was my brother, who’s here today,” the returning contestant replied.

When his brother Zach heard he was headed back to the game show, he made the journalist study his Swift history, Goins explained to Jennings. “The night before taping, he had prepared an entire practice board for me,” he said, adding that the information on the board was a bit skewed: “It was entirely Taylor Swift.”

Drew Goins on ‘Jeopardy!’.ABC

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But both Goins and his brother’s hard work paid off when, perhaps throwing him a bone — and a Swiftie olive branch — the Jeopardy! writers decided to include another Swift-related prompt in the new episode: “In 2014 Taylor Swift gave us this album named for a different year.”

Visibly excited at his shot at redemption among the pop star’s fans — and the fact that he knew the answer — Goins rang in and shouted his answer, “What is 1989?”

“Redemption for Drew! That is correct,” Jennings replied. “And the crowd goes wild.”

Goins not only won back the love of the Swifties (and $200 added to his total score) for his answer, he also won the game overall, advancing in the Jeopardy! tournament. And, off-screen, he made his Swiftie brother proud.

“No bad blood between me and @drewlgoins anymore,” Zach wrote of his game-show contestant brother on X, where he shared a clip of Goins’ moment of redemption. “I knew all too well he’d crush any more @taylorswift13 questions on #Jeopardy!”