'Jeopardy!' College Championship Has Eerie Connection To Ongoing Coronavirus Outbreak

COVID-19 has been a talking point following its emergence in Wuhan, China. Now, an aspect of the ongoing outbreak has pivoted to "Jeopardy!" due to a recent answer on the Alex Trebek-hosted show giving an eerie nod to the spread of the novel coronavirus.

On Tuesday night, Yale sophomore Nathaniel Miller selected an $800 clue from the category "Health & Medicine" during the College Championship. After doing so, the "Jeopardy!" host read the clue, which prompted the timely response.

“From a Greek word for people, it describes a disease that affects many people at one time," read Trebek. Miller then buzzed in to give the correct answer: “What is a pandemic?”

READ: Alex Trebek's 'Jeopardy!' Replacement: The Names Reportedly Being Considered For Hosting Duties

A clip of the moment can be seen below.

According to Yale Daily News, the filming took place over Feb. 3 and 4. This made the mention of a pandemic completely coincidental, as the World Health Organization did declare the novel coronavirus outbreak a pandemic until March 11, as stated by CNN.

Prior to the unexpected moment, The Ringer also revealed a few behind-the-scenes facts about what takes place leading up to the special two-week tournament. According to the outlet, College Championship players are some of the only players who audition for their specific competition. This differs from the annual Teacher's Tournament, as they applied for general episodes but stated that they are also educators.

As for what "Jeopardy!" fans can expect to see throughout the other new episodes of 2020, executive producer Harry Friedman recently stated that the questions will be "a mix of standard 'Jeopardy!' material and categories or clues that are geared more toward their demographic" throughout the competition.

Aside from the unexpected moment, fans have continued to pay attention to both the host and the quiz show for a variety of reasons in recent months. Not only did Trebek recently give a health update, regarding his ongoing battle with stage 4 pancreatic cancer, but the show has also had to amend their daily operations due to COVID-19's spread. Additionally, new episodes were also added to Netflix in February, which likely delighted fans as well.