Most people go speechless after winning a million dollars. Mina Kimes’ mother? Not most people. So when the acclaimed NFL analyst won a $1 million jackpot on Celebrity Jeopardy! All-Stars, her mother delivered a reaction that perfectly sums up what it’s like to have an overachieving child.  

“So very proud of you,” tweeted Sun Min Kimes on her post: a collage of three snippets of Mina Kimes on the show, including one of her holding the trophy and celebrating her victory.

In the high-stakes finale aired on Friday night on ABC, Kimes went head-to-head with actor-comedians Ike Barinholtz and Steven Weber. By the time they reached Final Jeopardy!, Kimes was leading with $12,500, Weber right behind her at $10,500, and Barinholtz trailing at $5,100. Then, everything came down to a single clue in the category: “Name’s the Same.”

“It’s the name of an 1873 novel subtitled ‘A Tale of Today,’ a period of U.S. history & a TV drama that debuted in 2022,” the question read.

Even though Barinholtz answered the question correctly and doubled his score, it wasn’t enough to catch Kimes. She also got the answer right, winning the show and the jackpot.

Her stats in the show back up her dominance. Kimes buzzed in first nearly 36% of the time and was also a master at the rebound, crucial moments when a contestant correctly answers a clue that another player misses. On the night of the finals alone, she won eight of those rebound opportunities and kept climbing the leaderboard.

However, Kimes will not be keeping the award money for herself. She will donate $1 million to Los Angeles’s SELAH Neighborhood Homeless Coalition. The organization is a volunteer-run group dedicated to providing food, healthcare, housing support, and genuine connection to those in need. 

In an Instagram post celebrating Kimes’ victory in the semifinals, the coalition shared that these funds are arriving at a critical moment. According to the post, these funds will help them sustain vital programs just as many Angelenos are losing their safety nets. 

Meanwhile, Barinholtz and Weber each secured $200,000 for their respective causes, the Noonan Syndrome Foundation and New Directions for Veterans.

The secret to Mina Kimes’ win on Celebrity Jeopardy! 

To get to the finale, the ESPN reporter had to take on Season 2 champion Lisa Ann Walter and finalist Katie Nolan in the semifinal, which aired on May 12. Like the final, it came down to the wire when Kimes missed the last question. 

However, she survived the mistake and advanced to the final. How, you may wonder. Well, she explained her wagering strategy after the semifinal. 

“If you’re in third place, you should bet nothing, or very little, to stay in third place,” she said via Instagram. “Here is why. The only known variable in Final Jeopardy is what first place will do. They will almost always do the logical thing, which is bet to cover you. You know what they’re going to do. They have to bet a lot.”

This shows that Kimes’ run on the show was a masterclass in both trivia depth and game-theory strategy. But beyond the clever wagers and the quick buzzer reflexes, the real win is the massive lifeline heading to SELAH Neighborhood Homeless Coalition.