Jolynda Chenicek, a instructor from Tallahassee, Florida, competed towards Scott Riccardi on Jeopardy! on Thursday, July 10. Riccardi is at the moment a nine-day champion and has racked up over $200,000, placing him within the prime 20 of all-time for earnings throughout common play.
Chenicek appeared on the Unbothered podcast on July 10 to speak about her sport towards Riccardi, an engineer from Somerville, New Jersey, which aired on TV that very same day. hhe was in first place earlier than Last Jeopardy, however answered the ultimate clue unsuitable and dropped all the way down to $2,799 and second place.
The Jeopardy! participant shared that she began to observe sport reveals in highschool, together with Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune. After she had two sons together with her husband, they ingrained the love of sport reveals into them. “Jeopardy! has most likely been the one which’s closest to my coronary heart,” Chenicek shared.
“I like trivia. I’m a historical past instructor, so I believe I simply have a mind for information and trivia information, so it was a dream to go on the present.”
Chenicek mentioned that her husband stored pushing her to audition for Jeopardy!, however she stored placing it off. Ultimately, Checicek thought it was time and went for it.
She first took the Anytime Take a look at in March 2024 and heard again in August for her first audition. After just a few rounds of interviews, contestants are put right into a pool for 2 years, and in the event that they aren’t picked throughout that point, they’ll audition once more. Chenicek obtained the decision in March 2025, inviting her to return out and movie her episode.
To organize for the present, Chenicek carried round a pocket book together with her in every single place. She tabbed completely different subjects and targeted on her strengths, together with historical past, the capitals, presidents, literature, music, and artwork.
For subjects that she wasn’t too educated about, like science, Chenicek checked out it in a historic means, like historic scientists. She additionally put collectively a music playlist and did analysis on classical music. Chenicek found a web based web site the place that they had flashcards for varied subjects that allowed her to review subjects extra simply.
Chenicek mentioned that she was together with her complete household when she came upon she was going to be on the sport present, and mentioned the entire expertise has been “surreal.” “Instantly, I used to be excited after which nervous,” she mentioned. “I actually needed to step up my sport and lock down on the finding out.”
Her husband and sons additionally flew out to California together with her to observe her episode, they usually made a small trip out of it.
As for recommendation for future contestants, Chenicek suggests “discovering out what works for you.” She targeted on her strengths, flashcards, listening to podcasts, and placing collectively her pocket book. “Dedicate time to essentially finding out,” the Jeopardy! participant mentioned.
“Discover that different entry into one thing that’s laborious for you, like I did with science.”
Chenicek ended by saying to only take the Anytime Take a look at since you by no means know for those who’ll get the decision. “When you discover one thing you’re actually enthusiastic about, simply do it,” she mentioned.
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