University of Texas Senior Jaskaran Singh Wins Jeopardy! National College Championship
- The finance and economics double-major will now compete in the Tournament of Champions.
University of Texas senior Jaskaran Singh has won the Jeopardy! National College Championship. Singh, a finance and economics double-major at the McCombs Business School, was crowned the winner on Feb, 22. He won $250,000 and now gets to compete in Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions.
Singh won the two-game, hour-long primetime final on ABC with a cumulative score of $51,700, news reports said, ânearly $5,000 clear of Kennesaw Stateâs Raymond Goslowâs runner-up total of $46,999.â He entered the last round on Feb. 18, in a close second place, during a closely fought contest. The collegiate tournament, hosted by Mayim Bialik, brought together 36 of Americaâs sharpest undergrads.
âIt feels pretty awesome,â Singh said in an interview after he was crowned the college champ. âItâll definitely go a long way in paying my tuition and a lot more.â The Sikh American said he didnât have any sort of special strategy going into the final round. âI just sort of just buzz fast and know things, and thatâs pretty much it. I donât think thereâs much more to it.â
Singh said the best part of the experience wasn’t âshowing off his smarts or winning prize moneyâ but meeting all of his fellow contestants. âI met so many cool people from all over the country, it was a really great experience. He gave a special shoutout to his family and friends back home as well.
Summing up Singhâs performance in the Feb. 22 final game, the Jeopardy! website noted that he gave â48 correct responses and 10 incorrect responses over the two games, and actually had the worst correct response percentage of the three finalists with 83 percent. He found all six of the Daily Double clues and answered five of them correctly. He buzzed in on 66 percent of the questions.â
For the final jeopardy round on Feb. 22, Singh wagered everything. In the category âCharacters in Banned Books,â Singh was the only contestant with the correct response to the answer: âIntroduced in 1928, this character has a disappointing affair with a writer before she begins a more satisfying relationship.â The question âWho is Lady Chatterley?â doubled Singhâs score, while both his opponents guessed, âWho is Madame Bovary?â
Singh had applied for the tournament once before. âI watched Jeopardy! when I was a little kid, and my mom had me apply when I was 13, but I didnât make it past the audition stage,â he told his University newspaper. âShe encouraged me to try again last year, saying, âWhatâs the worst that could happen?â So much of this stuff is up to chance, but obviously, it worked out.â
The University of Texas lit its tower on Feb. 22 night to recognize Singhâs victory.