It’s not every day you hear about a Jeopardy! love story. Although James Holzhauer, Ken Jennings, and Brad Rutter had brotherly chemistry during Jeopardy!‘s recent “The Greatest of All Time” championship, most of the contestants featured on the show aren’t there to befriend their opponents. They might clap for them when they get a difficult answer right, give them a friendly gesture, or even congratulate them after the show, but that’s all we really see opponents do.
But things were different for Emily Therese Cloyd and Stacy Braverman, who were both contestants on the show. The two first met in June of 2019 at a Jeopardy! audition in Washington, DC, and eight months later, they both ended up playing against one another during the same 2010 episode. And now? The opponents are married to one another. Talk about a unique tale of love!
Many would call their story fate.
During the Washington, DC, audition held at St. Regis hotel, the Jeopardy! contestant coordinator asked which attendee traveled the longest distance to be at the audition. That’s when Stacy announced that she was a recent graduate of Ann Arbor’s Michigan Law School and was looking forward to soon kickstarting her career in DC. Emily, too, was a University of Michigan graduate and was currently working as a climate scientist in DC.
Due to their commonalities, Emily decided to get to know Stacy on an interpersonal level.
“After the audition session ended, I followed Stacy on to the elevator and introduced myself as a fellow Michigan alumna and suggested that she get in touch when she moved to town,” Emily said.
Emily wrote down her contact information but didn’t get Stacy’s in exchange. It would be eight long months until the two finally got to accidentally meet up again in Los Angeles for the taping of the show. Emily immediately recognized Stacy’s face. Little did either of them know that they were both randomly drawn to be contestants for the same episode until that very day!
“I was pretty excited to see someone from the audition and reintroduced myself since it had been a while and neither of us remembered each other’s name,” Emily shared.
Although Stacy ending up beating Emily, Emily was proud of her for doing so well on the show. In fact, the two ladies decided to host a joint viewing party in Washington, DC, when their episode aired in March of 2010. In the meantime, they emailed back and forth until the party.
According to Emily, “The party was a lot of fun, and we met many of each other’s friends, and I also met Stacy’s parents and youngest brother, but at that point, I wasn’t thinking about more than friendship.”
Emily mentioned that there was a bit of miscommunication on both ends regarding what the relationship between the two was or could be. But then in September, Stacy asked Emily out on a date, not just a friendly outing.
Two years after their episode first aired on television, Emily and Stacy ended up getting married on May 12, 2012. They sent an invite to Game Show Host, Alex Trebek, but he, unfortunately, had to decline, likely due to schedule conflicts (understandable; he’s a busy man!). “All the best & thank you!” Alex wrote on the RSVP card.
“We weren’t expecting him to attend, so we weren’t surprised that his answer was no, but we really appreciated the short note wishing us the best for our marriage,” said Emily.
Today, the married couple still watch Jeopardy! together. The Cloyds enjoy telling their one-of-a-kind love story, and others are incredibly interested in it too. Since when do contestants fall in love anyway?! It just doesn’t happen, which makes Stacy and Emily’s relationship so special.
A common question the Cloyds receive is, “Who won?”
Emily has a great response: “Stacy won on the show, but I think that I won in life.”
Watch below to learn more about the Jeopardy! couple.
