(upbeat music)
- So I like Jeopardy!,
I've seen, I think every episode in my lifetime
and I, nonetheless, didn't think I would be good enough
to be on the show.
My dad said, take the Anytime Test.
Nothing worse can happen, than you won't get on.
So just give it a try.
I said, fine, I'll do it for you.
And I got a call and then I got another call
and now I'm here and I just can't believe it.
(upbeat music)
Read.
That's the best advice I can give anybody, read.
If you find it mildly interesting, read more about it.
If you don't find it mildly interesting, read more about it.
You just need to know more
and then you'll find that interesting too.
(upbeat music)
It may sound boring, but plain cheese.
(upbeat music)
Ooh, I do not collect anything.
I collect open space as a act of rebellion
against my hoarder of a father.
(upbeat music)
I would travel to earlier in the 1900s
and no earlier because of hygiene and technology
that I could not live without. (chuckles)
(upbeat music)
I famously did not enjoy Halloween at all,
and the only time I dressed up was when I was nine
and I put on my baseball uniform for Little League.
And that was my compromise with my parents.
(upbeat music)
Yes, I think that people out there have a ton of knowledge,
but probably a lot of self-doubt too.
And they're holding themselves back
and I just have to encourage them, go for it,
bet on yourself, give it a try.
(upbeat music)
I can't believe it, it still doesn't make sense.
I expect to look at the record book
and still see everybody else's name, but mine,
it will never fit in for me.
(upbeat music)
It's been a bit much both playing
and seeing reactions to the games that are airing,
and I've just been trying to like,
compartmentalize all of that.
People have been very nice.
I didn't know the internet could also be nice.
People have been very nice and so I've appreciated that.
(upbeat music)
I got a Tweet, which I will count from Ken Jennings.
I have not heard from him personally,
but he acknowledged my existence on Twitter
and I melted to the ground as soon as I saw that.
There is nobody I respect in the Jeopardy! community,
but probably the world, as Ken Jennings,
and so that was just a treat.
(upbeat music)
I get a lot of what's Matt,
and I think they're trying to be mean,
but I've just kind of taken it on my own.
So it feeds me, I like it.
(upbeat music)
Some decompression, I had so much energy coiled up.
I wanted to kind of relax a little bit,
but you know, I also, I read more because you never know
when the next thing you find online is gonna be asked.
And so I just try to absorb
every bit of information I can.
(upbeat music)
No, I'm a little bit superstitious about that
and I'm worried about acquiring a new wardrobe
and then boom, it all ends just like that,
and I'm never gonna be able to wear those clothes again.
(upbeat music)
It would absolutely be crazy train,
because I think the contrast
between one of my favorite songs and my personality,
would just be too much to resist.
(upbeat music)
All of them, beginning to end.
No, I think that the Final Jeopardy!'s
where I bet a lot of money
because I know the odds are in favor,
but sometimes they work out, sometimes they don't,
they're always stressful.
(upbeat music)
I love answering all of the obscure questions.
The more obscure it is,
the better feeling I get when I get it right.
And I just try to imagine all the people at home
who are saying, how did you know that?
Trust me, I'm also saying, how did I know that?
(upbeat music)
I was hoping for one win,
but I've never been on a stage under pressure like that.
So I was pretty much expecting to go in
and forget everything I know, including my name,
how much money I have at the moment,
to say, what is, certainly.
And so, just to win the one game
and to be able to call myself a Jeopardy! Champion
was always my goal.
More has come and I'm happy for it.
But that moment when I won the first one
is still always dear to my heart.
(upbeat music)
So, I know the rules of Jeopardy!.
I have watched a lot of Jeopardy!
and I've seen rulings on individual questions
here and there.
So, I have known from experience,
what is acceptable and what is not.
I went about the approach of saying,
the fewer things to think about, the better.
If you have a moving part, that moving part can go wrong.
And so I found the simplest,
most repeatable approach I could and went with it.
(upbeat music)