‘Survivor’ Alum Drew Basile Plays on ‘Jeopardy!’ June 19

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He was super-smart on ‘Survivor.’ Can he pull it off again on ‘Jeopardy!’?

Ken Jennings and Drew Basile
‘Jeopardy!’ host Ken Jennings (l.) and contestant Drew Basile. (Image credit: Jeopardy Productions)

Drew Basile, who was on season 45 of Survivor, will appear on Jeopardy! Wednesday, June 19. Basile is a graduate student from Birmingham, Michigan. 

“The haters have long called me a know-it-all. It’s time to prove them right,” Basile said on X.

The current Jeopardy! champion is Adriana Harmeyer, an archivist from West Lafayette, Indiana. A Jeopardy! Spokesperson said Basile applied to be on the show, and tested for it, same as any other contestant. 

Basile lists Oxford and the University of Pennsylvania as the universities where he’s studied in his bio on X. 

In an introductory video before season 45 of Survivor, Basile said the other castaways would see him as “the nutty professor” and “a guy who lives at the library.” He acknowledged his high level of intelligence, and added that he’s a trivia national champion and competitive Scrabble player. 

Dee Valladares won season 45 of Survivor, which began in September 2023. Austin Li Coon and Jake O’Kane were the runners-up. 

Basile made it to day 23, but was the 12th contestant voted out, out of the 18 that started the season. 

Michael Malone
Michael Malone

Michael Malone is content director at B+C and Multichannel News. He joined B+C in 2005 and has covered network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television, including writing the "Local News Close-Up" market profiles. He also hosted the podcasts "Busted Pilot" and "Series Business." His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The L.A. Times, The Boston Globe and New York magazine.