JEOPARDY! is now airing summer reruns, and fans are buzzing about Sam Buttrey all over again.
Here's a look behind the irresistible persona of the 2022 Tournament of Champions' breakout star.
Sam, 63, is an associate professor of operations research at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California.
He never competed on nightly Jeopardy! and initially won the 2021 $100,000 Professor's Tournament.
Sam then qualified for the most stacked Tournament of Champions in history with more super-champs, or 10-day plus winners, than any previous year.
Mattea Roach, Matt Amodio, Amy Schneider, Ryan Long, Andrew He, and other greats from Season 38 all duked it out.
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So it was quite a surprise when Sam knocked out 38-time winner Matt, landing in the final three.
Eventually, it was 40-time champion Amy who won the $250K purse.
But it was a hard-fought first-to-three-wins finals that took six incredibly intense games.
Sam came in third and Andrew He in second, though there was a hotly contested biblical Final Jeopardy that fans accused "robbed" Sam of a win.
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That said, Sam won over hoards of fans for his huge personality and hilarious stage presence too.
With his first ToC match re-airing tonight, fans excitedly took to Facebook ready to relive his road to TV stardom.
One person penned: "Okay Team Sam we are going to root and holler for our man tonight!!"
"This was my first time watching this episode. Sam killed it! I was watching in amazement! His buzzer technique was a trip!!" wrote another.
"Great to see this lovely face again, even if it is just a rerun" as a fourth ruled him as a "national treasure."
SOUNDCLOUD RAPPER
During last fall's tournament, Sam used an on-stage anecdote to reveal that he's a SoundCloud beatmaker and makes parody songs as a side project.
He told host Ken Jennings: "I’m a keyboard player but with the help of computer software I can create entire songs that I think are hilarious.
But in reality range from the unfunny to offensive."
“I’ll be making you a mixtape of my two favorites: ‘The Colonoscopy Song’ and ‘Don’t Put Your Cat Butt in My Face.’"
Sam's SoundCloud page is still up today with 20 tracks total - the genres range from reggae to rap to country.
In The Colonoscopy Song, Sam sings: "When you get to be the big 5-0 like me you're filled with wisdom and maturity.
"And there's another side of life that you're ready to see - you get to have a colonoscopy. You get to see your own butt on a big TV."
Reddit users instantly discovered his tunes, which are in no way about trivia, and one person applauded: "He's pretty good!"
STEVE MARTIN LOOKALIKE
Speaking of comedic musicians, Sam acknowledged on stage that he is aware he's a dead ringer for Steve Martin.
"Apparently a lot of people thought I looked like Steve Martin [when I won the Professor's Tournament]," Sam shared at one point.
"That's an amusing comparison to me - I like it because not only is he hilarious..."
Sam added (turning straight to the camera): "But he's also famous for being the most handsome man in the world."
MARRIED LIFE
Sam is married to a woman named Elinda Hardy and they have one child - a son- together.
His spouse has also auditioned multiple times and helped him prepare to compete.
Sam told Monterey County Weekly: “My training is in statistics."
“My wife helps me to train with ballet, arts and opera. I’m more of a science guy.”
EVERYONE SAY 'BRING IT!'
During the tournament, Sam's signature catchphrase was born.
He began exclaiming, "Bring it!" when selecting the last clue on the board- which proved hilarious since the remaining question is usually the least desirable.
"Bring it! caught on, and contestants have continued using it ever since as a nod to him.
Sam recently shared on the official podcast Inside Jeopardy!: “I’ve always been struck by this weird thing where there’s one clue left [on the board].
"Nobody knows what to do."
“Do you wait and have Ken or Mayim say, ‘and now the final clue?’"
"Or do you get out ahead of them and say, ‘I’ll also take the $200 clue?’”
“There’s never been a policy for that, so I thought I’d get ahead of it.
"And I don’t know that ‘Bring It’ was the particular phrase that I had planned.
“But there it was, and I had the call for it, and it became clear that people liked it; my fellow competitors have used it."
HE LOOKS TALLER ON TV
Sam is shorter than he appears on Jeopardy!, which has podium risers to make everyone's height the same- he is around 5'5''.
In July, Sam posed with two politicians while donning a red polo shirt and a winning smile on X, formerly, Twitter embracing as much.
He stood outside where he teaches, and got in front of the fact that his companions were much taller than him.
He wrote: "In a rare show of bipartisan unity, Rep. Panetta and Rep. Moore agreed that 'that guy looked taller on that game show.'"
MASTERFUL FRIENDSHIP
Sam returned for a third stint in the first annual Jeopardy! Masters tournament in May.
Gambler pro James Holzhauer won the glitzy $500,000 special, which featured six fan-favorite contestants back at it.
Sam didn't notch a single win, but he did come away with even more fans and a winning friendship.
He was eliminated by Matt Amodio after quite the opposite happened during the ToC, and they shared a huge hug.
Matt called Sam the "dearest friend I've made in all of Jeopardy!."
The dynamic Daily Double duo has since kept the friendship up and in June, reunited at a brewery, laughing it up and posing together.
Sam donned a chic black polo and slacks, as the Matt wore loose khakis, a polo shirt and a chain.
Sam captioned the X snap: "One of these people is charming, witty, and handsome. The other appeared on Jeopardy! #jeopardy #jeopardymasters"
EERIE OCEANGATE STORY
Sam also went viral after Masters aired for an eerie story he told on stage about turning down an invite to a Titanic wreckage tour.
“I have a friend who operates a company that will take you out to the wreck of the Titanic,” Sam told host Ken during Masters in a TikTok clip viewed nearly 1.6 million times [seen here].
“So you go out in a boat and then you go down in a submersible craft and tour the wreckage.”
However, he could not go on the “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity" trip as it fell on the weekend of his son’s wedding.
“I was very happy to go there,” continued Buttrey. “It was a beautiful wedding, and not a shred of regret in my life.”
Sam did not mention OceanGate Expeditions or Titan, the fatal sub which made two prior successful trips to the deep.
But The U.S. Sun exclusively learned that Sam likely skirted a trip on the since-imploded vessel Titan.
Sam is Facebook friends with Wendy Rush, the wife of OceanGate’s late CEO Stockton Rush.
A graduate of Princeton University, Wendy Rush née Hollings Weil was the communications director for OceanGate Inc.
Sam also attended Princeton for undergrad - she and Stockton graduated in 1984 and Sam graduated in 1983.
This was Titan's third annual voyage to the Titanic since 2021, and Wendy previously ran: “Titanic Expeditions 2021, 2022, 2023" according to her LinkedIn.
Wendy also gushed about Sam on Facebook and cheered him on while he competed on Jeopardy!.
Sharing an image to Facebook celebrating one of his victories, she wrote: “Congratulations Sam Buttrey! Great win!”
She also posted about him earlier that year as well, between posts about OceanGate.
The U.S. Sun reached out to Sam, who had “no comment” about whether the trip he nearly went on was one of the successful ones on the since-imploded vessel Titan in 2021 or 2022.
KEN AGREES SAM IS 'FATHER'
Sam also got a wild nod of approval from host Ken on social media.
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Writer Louis Peitzman posted to X: "‘That’s father.’ – me, any time Sam Buttrey is onscreen.”
Ken, 49, seemed to agree that Sam is indeed “father,” throwing a like at the tweet.
