‘Jeopardy!’ gives three wins to Longmont competitor
Longmont has a quiz show champion in the form of Stephen Webb, a data scientist who so far has won not one, but three games of the iconic trivia competition, “Jeopardy!”
Nearly three years after starting the audition process for the show, Webb traveled to Los Angeles in December to put his knowledge of a wide range of topics to the test. Webb’s three-game win streak was broadcast in mid-february, with his fourth game set to air later this month after a string of episodes featuring the show’s “High School Reunion” tournament.
Originally from Georgia, the 38-yearold moved to Longmont around 10 years ago after attending graduate school in New York. Trivia has long been a part of his life, stretching back to his participation in quiz bowl competitions during high school and college. He ultimately decided to try out for “Jeopardy!” after his wife pointed out that he was answering an “inordinate” amount of prompts correctly when the two would watch the show at home.
Despite his trivia prowess, however, Webb said he wasn’t even expecting to win one game.
“I was basically expecting to be on the stage once,” he said. “I honestly thought I was going to come in dead last…which is kind of nice, because then I had no expectations. I could just go for it.”
Webb took the online “Jeopardy!” qualifier test in the spring of 2020, launching an interview process that took over a year. After another year of waiting, he was finally asked to be on the show at the end of 2022.
As a multi-game winner, Webb said the filming process was one big adrenaline rush. Since several games are filmed backto-back, Webb only had about 15 minutes to process his wins while simultaneously changing clothes, redoing hair and makeup and walking right back onto the stage.
“There’s really no time to sit down and rest,” he said. “You’re standing still for a very long time, which is actually kind of hard to do. So there really is an endurance aspect to these longer streaks.”
Webb said Colorado has been well-represented on “Jeopardy!” lately, recalling a couple of recent contestants from Centennial and Superior. In 2015, Longmont elementary school teacher Jennifer Giles competed in the show’s “Teachers Tournament” and won the grand prize.
Webb believes the producers’ decision to hold virtual auditions due to the pandemic has led to a broader playing field.
“They pull people from all over the country,” he said. “You don’t have to be from California to be on ‘Jeopardy!’ now, and I think that’s very, very cool.”
Webb has a doctorate in physics, but other than getting lucky with a sciencerelated “Daily Double” during one of his games, he doesn’t think his background was as important to his success as the time he spent getting familiar with the show’s typical questions.
“I don’t think a high education is a prerequisite for doing well,” he said. “You need to read a lot because you need the information, but then you also need to spend time with the questions to get used to puzzling through (them).”
Webb’s performance has already pulled in $80,631, which he said he wants to put toward traveling internationally with his wife. He also said he’d love to compete in the show’s “Tournament of Champions” one day.
“If they invited me back out there, I would go, and there is no question about that,” he said.
Viewers can catch Webb’s fourth game at 6 p.m., March 10 on KDVR-DT (FOX).