Remember Michael Avenatti? Even the best of the best Jeopardy! champions did not know who the disgraced attorney was.
During Thursday's Tournament of Champions episode, the three contestants were stumped by the $800 answer under the category "Lawyers, Law & Legality," which read "this lawyer's star rose while repping Stormy Daniels but fell after he was accused of trying to extort millions from Nike in 2019."
The contestants, including record-breaking champion James Holzhauer, looked on blankly before time ran out and host Alex Trebek gave the correct response, adding, "his name quickly forgotten, obviously." It was one of only a few clues none of the contestants knew during the game.
Avenatti, a Democrat, rose to prominence in 2018 as the lawyer for Daniels, the porn actress who claimed she had an affair with Donald Trump in 2006 and received a hush-money payment during the 2016 campaign. Avenatti became a ubiquitous presence on cable news, appearing more than 200 times on CNN and MSNBC. He delighted liberals with his brash confidence and predictions that President Trump would not make it through his first term.
Avenatti was feted by media figures as a threat to Trump's presidency and was even dubbed the "savior of the republic," leading him to flirt with a bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. He said in December he would not run, shortly after charges against him for domestic violence were dropped.
In March, he was arrested on charges of extortion and fraud in New York and California, and he has since been indicted for other financial crimes.