Something a 'Jeopardy!' contestant won instead of a cash prize: What is true love?

Round two of the Second Chance competition is underway on Jeopardy! this week, and it turns out one of Monday’s returning contestants may have previously lost on the show but ended up winning at love because of it.

The show has invited back 27 previous contestants for the first three weeks of its 40th season, with the big winner of each week advancing to the first-ever Champions Wild Card Tournament later in the fall.

Monday’s installment brought back Matt Walks, a digital journalist originally from Billings, Montana, who first appeared on Jeopardy! on March 18, 2021 and finished second with $1,599 in winnings while enjoying a category featuring clues from musician Sting.

The host for that episode was Katie Couric, who guest-hosted for a couple weeks at the time and whose presence on the Alex Trebek stage is credited for helping Walks’ love life. He explained to Monday’s host, Ken Jennings.

“I had a great guest host in Katie,” Walks began. “And there was a woman in Oregon who was watching the show specifically for Katie. And even though I didn’t win, I got a great consolation prize because she Tweeted at me, and now we’ve been dating for two years.”

And for proof of this Jeopardy!-themed love story, Walks pointed her out in the audience and she blew a little kiss with a wave.

Jennings congratulated the happy couple and then pondered a bit more about how the whole thing actually came together.

“It takes a lot of confidence to be watching Jeopardy! and think, ‘I’m gonna slide into that contestant’s DM,’” he said.

“She shot her shot,” Walks responded.

He ended Monday’s show once again in second place with $15,999. But it just so happens that this second chance — along with finding love through a Jeopardy! loss — is only part of Walks’ game show journey. He previously won $173,000 on a 2018 episode of Beat Shazam along with his father, Russell Walks, who was a one-day Jeopardy! champion back on April 5, 2000.

And while he didn’t get the Jeopardy! win yet again, Walks is already winning at the game of love.

Jeopardy! airs weeknights, check your local listings.