Criminal Minds
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217 free Criminal Minds trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
50 free Criminal Minds trivia questions with answers. Are you a true Criminal Minds fan? Whether you've watched from the beginning or recently binged the series, this trivia quiz will test your knowledge of the BAU team, unforgettable cases, and iconic moments. See how well you remember the show's most thrilling episodes and characters.
30 of 217 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Who created the police procedural drama Criminal Minds?
Jeff Davis
Jeff Davis created the series and wrote its pilot himself, an episode that turns on whether a shaken Gideon is fit to return to duty.
Q 02What is the title of the very first episode of Criminal Minds?
'Extreme Aggressor'
'Extreme Aggressor' has Hotch assessing whether Gideon, called back from medical leave, is fit to return, while the team races to save a kidnapped woman.
Q 03What is Penelope Garcia's job within the BAU?
Technical Analyst
Technical Analyst: Garcia digs up records and footage from her computer lab while the profilers work in the field, joining them on location only occasionally.
Q 04Dr. Spencer Reid holds Ph.D.s in mathematics, engineering and which other field?
Chemistry
Chemistry completes Reid's trio of doctorates, and he has not stopped: in 'Masterpiece' he says he is working toward yet another bachelor's degree.
Q 05In which season did Supervisory Special Agent David Rossi join the BAU team?
Third
Third season: Rossi arrives in its sixth episode, 'About Face', volunteering to return after the abrupt exit of a fellow founding profiler.
Q 06How was Aaron Hotchner's exit in season twelve explained on screen?
Witness protection
Witness protection: Hotch entered it after the killer Mr. Scratch began stalking his son; Thomas Gibson had been dismissed over an on-set altercation.
Q 07Why does Derek Morgan leave the BAU in season eleven?
Fatherhood
Fatherhood: after Morgan is abducted and tortured and learns that Savannah is pregnant with their son, he decides not to put his new family through it again.
Q 08When the FBI caught Penelope Garcia hacking, what was her alternative to taking a job with the Bureau?
A prison sentence
A prison sentence: Garcia had drawn attention by illegally accessing FBI equipment as an underground hacker, and was offered a place at the Bureau in lieu of jail.
Q 09Which sport does Spencer Reid play for the FBI's team?
Softball
Softball: Reid has to be talked into it by Morgan, who spends season eight's 'The Apprenticeship' coaxing him onto the FBI's team.
Q 10What is the name of Emily Prentiss's cat?
Sergio
Sergio is Emily Prentiss's cat; she leaves him in Garcia's care while she is presumed dead in season six, and Garcia grows attached to him.
Q 11In 'Criminal Minds,' what does the acronym 'BAU' stand for?
Behavioral Analysis Unit
Behavioral Analysis Unit: the real FBI unit began in 1972 as the Behavioral Science Unit, whose agents toured prisons interviewing serial killers about their motives and methods.
Q 12Which original BAU member is a half-Cuban sex-crimes expert who speaks fluent Spanish?
Elle Greenaway
Elle Greenaway is shot by an unsub in the season-one finale; the trauma follows her into season two, where she kills a suspect in cold blood and resigns.
Q 13Before joining the FBI, what was Aaron Hotchner's profession?
Prosecutor
Q 21Criminal Minds' 'Revelations', where Tobias Hankel tortures an agent, concludes a two-parter begun by which episode?
'The Big Game'
'The Big Game' aired straight after CBS's Super Bowl XLI coverage in February 2007 and ends on a cliffhanger that 'Revelations' resolves three nights later.
Q 22Which Criminal Minds cast member's real-life sons play her character's children?
A.J. Cook
A.J. Cook's sons Mekhai and Phoenix play JJ's boys, a casting that followed the writers folding the actress's own pregnancy into the character's storyline.
Q 23What does the BAU's sex-crimes expert deny admitting when she hands Hotch her badge and gun?
Guilt
Prosecutor: Hotch traded the courtroom for the FBI, working as a field agent before he rose to take charge of the BAU.
Q 14Which actress joined the cast in season six as FBI cadet Ashley Seaver?
Rachel Nichols
Rachel Nichols began as a guest star playing the cadet and was promoted to the regular cast, but the character lasted only that one season.
Q 15Which university did Penelope Garcia drop out of before the FBI recruited her?
Caltech
Caltech: after her parents' deaths, Garcia dropped out and went underground as a hacker, which is how the FBI found and recruited her.
Q 16The series was revived as Criminal Minds: Evolution on which streaming service?
Paramount+
Paramount+ revived the show as Criminal Minds: Evolution in November 2022, two years after CBS had ended it, with most of the final-season cast returning.
Q 17Why is Spencer Reid introduced as a doctor rather than an agent?
His youth
His youth: Reid finished high school at twelve, and Hotch tells him in the pilot that people see a kid, so the title is there to make sure they respect him.
Q 18Which actor plays David Rossi, who rejoined the BAU after early retirement?
Joe Mantegna
Joe Mantegna joined in 2007 when the show abruptly lost its original lead, and he has stayed with it through the CBS finale and into the revival.
Q 19Which notorious unsub was known as 'The Reaper' and had a personal vendetta against Aaron Hotchner?
George Foyet
George Foyet posed as a surviving victim of his own attacks, then went quiet for a decade under a pact with the lead detective that ended when the detective died.
Q 20What is the name of JJ's detective husband?
Will LaMontagne
Will LaMontagne meets JJ when his late father's unsolved case brings the BAU to his city; he later joins the Washington police to be with her.
Guilt: the agent has shot a suspected rapist while alone on a stakeout, and though local police call it self-defense, she resigns saying it is 'not an admission of guilt'.
Q 24Which actress plays Penelope Garcia?
Kirsten Vangsness
Kirsten Vangsness began as a recurring player in 2005, not yet a regular, and went on to co-write episodes including the series finale.
Q 25Which Beverly Hills, 90210 star played cult leader Benjamin Cyrus in season four's 'Minimal Loss'?
Luke Perry
Luke Perry played Cyrus, who takes Prentiss and Reid hostage inside his Colorado compound when a state raid goes disastrously wrong.
Q 26Which actor played the contract killer Cat Adams, a recurring antagonist for Dr. Spencer Reid?
Aubrey Plaza
Aubrey Plaza played Cat Adams, who spends 'Entropy' locked in a battle of wits with Reid and returns in season twelve to force him into a second round.
Q 27In which Virginia town is the BAU headquartered?
Quantico
Quantico: the FBI Academy is based there too, and in season six the team brings one of its cadets, not yet graduated, onto a case.
Q 28Which BAU member briefly replaced JJ as communications liaison during her maternity leave?
Jordan Todd
Jordan Todd came over from counter-terrorism and was trained by JJ until JJ went into labor; when the leave ended, she went back to her old unit.
Q 29Which actress plays Emily Prentiss?
Paget Brewster
Paget Brewster joined in season two, left in 2012 to pursue other roles, and returned as a regular four years later when the show lost Thomas Gibson.
Q 30What is the name of Aaron Hotchner's son?
Jack
Jack: in the pilot the expectant parents trade baby names, and Hotch flatly rejects his wife's suggestion of Gideon.