Jeopardy
Here's a photo of me and Alex Trebeck from my Jeopardy taping September 5th, 2001. If you missed me on Jeopardy Wednesday, December 5th, 2001, here's a quick synopsis.
You may have noticed only one episode listed. From that you can guess the final outcome. I was up against a two time champ who did close captioning for a living. That means she was a quick signaler. I got off to a slow start, but made an impressive run after the first ad break. My proudest moment was running the Quotable Yogi category to end the Jeopardy round.
The Double Jeopardy round was not so kind Categories like Oprah's Book Club and Famous Women were not on my dream board. I blew a simple question about Survivor at the end of the round and headed into the Final Jeopardy round with $12,600 - $1000 behind the returning champ and twice as much as the third place contestant.
The Final Jeopardy Category was Historic Heroes. Having graduated with a B. A. in History I felt pretty confident about the category. I knew I had to bet on knowing the answer as opposed to not knowing so I bet it all. The question was: "This person, born in 1783, is the national hero of five countries." Cue the Jeopardy thinking music. I knew I was cooked. I had no clue. My mind raced to Europe, but no one jumped out at me. I wrote down Lincoln, but knew I was wrong. I wish I had put, "who is someone who has never been in my kitchen", as an homage to Cliff Claven. At least I would have gotten a laugh. Did you know the answer? The correct question was "Who is Simon Bolivar?" Of course it was, The Liberator of South America, how could I have forgotten him. My Dad who was in the audience claims he knew. Unfortunately we never perfected telepathy. The other two contestants also got it wrong.
I take little solace in the fact we all got it wrong. I am proud I bet it all. Had it been an easy question and we had all gotten it right I would have tied and taken home $25,200, but the money is only secondary. The toughest part for me was to have been so close and knowing that was my one chance for victory. Once you have been a contestant you can not be on again.
Although I didn't win it was a rewarding experience. I learned a lot about myself and about dealing with failure. I will also never forget that Historic Hero - Simon Bolivar.