Child Star From ‘Willy Wonka’ On ‘Jeopardy’ [VIDEO]
The internet was quick to reveal a ‘Jeopardy’ contestant’s secret identity as a child actor from the 1971 version of ‘Willy Wonka.’
By nowproducerdave on March 15, 2018
We’re talking the original “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” here, not that remake with Johnny Depp. The child star who played TV-obsessed “Mike Teevee” is all grown up, obviously, and appeared on “Jeopardy.” Thing is though, he didn’t claim it in his bio for some reason.
Paris Themmen is his name, and he played Mike Teevee in the original “Willy Wonka” movie, who was the kid obsessed with television who found one of the golden tickets. His appearance on “Jeopardy” went mostly unnoticed, until some fans of the show were able to put the connection together after hearing his name mentioned by Alex Trebek.
I was making dinner in the kitchen, listening to Jeopardy when Alex Trebek started introducing contestants at the break. He said @ParisThemmen and I ran out saying MIKE TEEVEE !!! My wife thought I was nuts. Great job Paris!
— Wildbill (@wildbill77) March 13, 2018
Is nobody realizing that Paris on Jeopardy right now, is Mike TV from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory?…. Like legit it’s the actor.
— Rachel Michele (@rachelmichele25) March 13, 2018
Like, some legit fans of the original Willy Wonka, clearly.
Paris has only appeared in four films, and has worked on-set of a couple movies. He’s also been interviewed a few times. In his bio that Alex Trebek was reading on the show, he was only described as an entrepreneur and “avid backpacker” who has hiked on 6 continents and been to many amazing destinations. Nowhere did anyone mention that he was a child actor. We can’t help but wonder why that wasn’t mentioned though. Maybe they were trying to protect his identity, or perhaps they were worried he’d be considered “celebrity” and potentially discredit the show, or start arguments about how he should be on a celebrity version of the show? We may never know, but for now, you can watch his intro, and see how well he did, right here:
WBZ interrupted the opening of Jeopardy! so I didn’t get his name until Alex Trebek repeated it – it’s @ParisThemmen, Mike Teevee from Willy Wonka! pic.twitter.com/NNPUQ09hV0
— Tim Colby (@timjcolby) March 13, 2018
Check out his IMDB profile here, in which it even lists “Jeopardy” under his projects. Do you know or have you ever met a child star who keeps their identity secret? What’s their reason?
EDIT 03-16-18: Turns out we were right to be confused as to why his identity wasn’t mentioned. Paris has and is very open about being the kid from “Willy Wonka,” but it turns out that Alex Trebek is the one who silenced that fact. Apparently, according to Paris, Alex just skipped right over that fact when reading from the bio card. Interesting. Check that out here.
