Forget Johnny Depp's version, Gene Wilder's Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory is the only one that counts.
The 1971 movie truly is a classic and while most of its child stars left the business they do crop up every now and then. This week saw the guy who played the cowboy-loving TV-obsessed Mike Teavee turn up on Jeopardy, and he never even mentioned that he was in the iconic movie.
58-year-old Paris Themmen chatted away with host Alex Trebek about his travels, revealing he had been to 61 countries but leaving out that he had once set foot behind the magical doors of Willy Wonka's factory.
Thankfully, his presence didn't go unnoticed by avid fans of the movie.
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
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
Also, @ParisThemmen why talk about backpacking? Why wouldn't you mention that when you were 11, you got invited to a chocolate factory in Germany and got split up in a million pieces then shrunk down to the size of a chocolate bar. Total missed opportunity if you ask me.
— Wildbill (@wildbill77) March 13, 2018
Why wouldn't Paris Themmen mention those most amazing fact he had about himself:
He played Mike Teavee in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory #Jeopardy #WillyWonka pic.twitter.com/CVeZ4cx7rV
— JeopardyBlindGuesser (@JeopardyGuesser) March 13, 2018
Themmen previously appeared on The Today Show back in 2015 to reunite with his former co-stars Peter Ostrum (who starred as Charlie Bucket), Julie Dawn Cole (Veruca Salt), Denise Nickerson (Violet Beauregarde), Michael Bollner (Augustus Gloop) and Rusty Goffe (who played an Oompa Loompa) on The Today Show.
Themmen said at the time: "We think of ourselves as a family, maybe a bit of a dysfunctional family, but a family really."
In case you are wondering, Paris did quite well on Jeopardy, coming in second on the show with a total of $6,800.
