UCF student starts ‘Jeopardy!’ finals
Hannah Sage, a sophomore at University of Central Florida, finished the first half of the Jeopardy! College Championship in second place Thursday.
She is competing with William Scott from Tufts University in Medford, Mass., and Dhruv Gaur of Brown University in Providence, R.I.
The winner will be revealed when play concludes today. “Jeopardy!” airs at 7 p.m. weekdays on WFTVChannel 9.
Final Jeopardy was about historic sites, and the category threw all three players. Each saw their winnings depleted. Gaur completed Thursday’s show with $9,000. Sage had $7,600. Scott lost everything. But the standings can change with Friday’s conclusion.
Before that, Sage demonstrated her skill in categories about music, myths, alliteration and words that begin with A.
Sage, 19, of Sarasota, said fellow UCF students had been excited about her performance on the long-running game show.
“I’ve had a lot of people randomly come up to me, as I’ve been walking around campus, and say congrats or say it’s really cool that they got to see somebody from their school on TV,” Sage said.
Fifteen college students have competed for a $100,000 grand prize in the two-week tournament.
“It’s been a great experience,” Sage said. “All my competitors have been so wonderful. Everybody’s been really supportive the whole time.” She also praised the crew at “Jeopardy!” for being “great and super helpful.”
She said her best moment so far had been “just making it to finals. Oh my God, I’ve made it this far is the best part of it.”
In Tuesday’s telecast, she earned $28,401, overtaking the second-place finisher by $1. The clue in Final Jeopardy was “The Nutcracker,” and all three players got it right.
“I think we all thought it was an easy question,” she said.
Still, her calculations were impressive.
“I have a friend who is a ‘Jeopardy!’ super fan,” she said. “He made sure I knew how to bet properly before I left.”
It undoubtedly helped that Sage is getting her undergraduate degree in mathematics. She hopes to become a dermatologist and most likely will practice in Florida. She said she will use her “Jeopardy!” winnings for her education, travel money to Italy and savings.
Through her play, she had shown a knowledge of art, popular lyrics, the Arnold Palmer drink, “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling and biblical women.
Sage displays poise in her “Jeopardy!” appearances. She said she has no interest in reality shows, but she might consider competing on other game shows. “I know that ‘Jeopardy!’ has specific rules about being on other game shows after ‘Jeopardy!,’ ” she said.