--- title: Jeopardy Contestant Proposes to Girlfriend On air in video description: A Jeopardy contestant proposed to his girlfriend during an appearance on the show on Thursday — and she gave her answer in question form. canonical: https://time.com/5409841/jeopardy-contestant-proposes-on-air/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-09-28T15:34:20.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:55:09.940Z og:title: Jeopardy Contestant Pops the Question to Girlfriend on Air og:description: "What is yes?" og:url: https://time.com/5409841/jeopardy-contestant-proposes-on-air/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt22d615f8979030ef/69893b647cdbac383ed5e0b3/man-proposes-on-jeopardy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2000 og:image:height: 1125 og:image:alt: "Jeopardy!" Million Dollar Celebrity Invitational Tournament Show Taping og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Jeopardy Contestant Pops the Question to Girlfriend on Air twitter:description: "What is yes?" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt22d615f8979030ef/69893b647cdbac383ed5e0b3/man-proposes-on-jeopardy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Jeopardy Contestant Wins Hearts and Minds With On-Air Proposal > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME The Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition The Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. The day's top headlines, curated by TIME editors. The Brief brings TIME's perspective to the day's most important stories, helping readers understand not just what is happening, but why it matters. 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The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically.  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Sep 28, 2018 3:34 PM UTC  CULVER CITY, CA - APRIL 17: Game show host Alex Trebek rehearses his lines on the set of the "Jeopardy!" Million Dollar Celebrity Invitational Tournament Show Taping on April 17, 2010 in Culver City, California. (Photo by Amanda Edwards/Getty Images) CULVER CITY, CA - APRIL 17: Game show host Alex Trebek rehearses his lines on the set of the "Jeopardy!" Million Dollar Celebrity Invitational Tournament Show Taping on April 17, 2010 in Culver City, California. (Photo by Amanda Edwards/Getty Images) Amanda Edwards—Getty Images  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Sep 28, 2018 3:34 PM UTC A [_Jeopardy!_ ](http://time.com/5226169/reese-witherspoon-jeopardy-category/)contestant won in the category of love when [he proposed to his girlfriend](http://time.com/4861161/dance-routine-proposal/) during Thursday night’s show. Michael Pascuzzi of Florida swapped out the traditional interview with [host Alex Trebek](http://time.com/5089828/alex-trebek-jeopardy-brain-surgery-reactions/) to pop the question to his girlfriend, Maria Shafer, who was in the television audience. “I just wanted to say one quick thing, and ask Maria Shafer, right there, if she would make me a winner today and marry me,” Pascuzzi said. “Will you marry me?” While Shafer swiftly responded with a tearful “yes,” the ever-wry Trebek had a quip for the situation: “Maria, you responded too quickly. I was about to say we’ll have the answer to that question right after this commercial break.” Shafer also modified the answer she gave to Pascuzzi’s proposal later; she realized that she should have phrased her answer in the form of a question, which she quickly resolved. > [](https://twitter.com/Jeopardy/status/1045455547741491201) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5409841/jeopardy-contestant-proposes-on-air/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5409841/jeopardy-contestant-proposes-on-air/"},"headline":"Jeopardy Contestant Wins Hearts and Minds With On-Air Proposal","datePublished":"2018-09-28T15:34:20.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:55:09.940Z","description":"\"What is yes?\"","url":"https://time.com/5409841/jeopardy-contestant-proposes-on-air/","keywords":["Newsfeed","viral"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt22d615f8979030ef/69893b647cdbac383ed5e0b3/man-proposes-on-jeopardy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cady Lang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/cady-lang/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt22d615f8979030ef/69893b647cdbac383ed5e0b3/man-proposes-on-jeopardy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"\"Jeopardy!\" Million Dollar Celebrity Invitational Tournament Show Taping","caption":"\"Jeopardy!\" Million Dollar Celebrity Invitational Tournament Show Taping","creditText":"Amanda Edwards—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5409841/jeopardy-contestant-proposes-on-air/","name":"Jeopardy Contestant Wins Hearts and Minds With On-Air Proposal"}}]}] ```