Senior Katie Winter says that watching herself on television in the first round of the "Jeopardy! College Championship" on May 8 was a "surreal and out-of-body experience."
Although she came in third and last place in the competition, Winter said "the experience was worth more than any monetary value."
Winter went up against Suchita Shah of the University of Wisconsin, Madison and Danny Devries of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor in the packed Kohls Center at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Devries won first place in a competitive contest.
What Winter called a "pretty arduous selection process" began in November when she took a 50-question test on the game show's Web site. She eventually received a call in December asking her to join 3,000 other college students from around the nation in the first round of callbacks.
"It was crazy because this is something that has been a life dream of mine," Winter said. "I think that college 'Jeopardy!' is even cooler than regular 'Jeopardy!' because it is more selective and you get to really support your school. It's a little faster than regular 'Jeopardy!' because adults' reflexes aren't as quick as ours."
Winter was confident she had performed well in the second audition, but she remained unsure about whether she had been selected as one of the tournament's 15 competitors.
"Even though I felt really confident about my performance that day, I also knew that the chance of getting on 'Jeopardy!' was so small," Winter said.
After months without notice, however, Winter received a call from "Jeopardy!" on St. Patrick's Day telling her that she had been selected as one of the final 15. Needless to say, she was ecstatic. "I remember just thinking to myself, 'This is going to be amazing,'" Winter said.
On the show, Winter maintained a competitive score through the first round before losing to Devries.
At the end of the first round, Winter managed to double her score by correctly answering a $1,000 question, but she remained in third place behind Devries's $2,200. She stayed neck-and-neck with Devries into the second round until he correctly answered a Daily Double and sped ahead.
Though she lost, Winter ended the third, or "Final Jeopardy!," round on a good note after correctly responding "Who is Mozart?" to the answer, "The home of Vienna's Domgasse where he lived in the 1780s was reopened amid fanfare in January 2006."
Despite her loss, Winter remains confident that she could have advanced to the next round of the tournament. "The ironic thing is that if I had wagered $1,300 more, I would have qualified for the wild card and advanced to the next round of finals," Winter said.
Winter pointed to problems with working the buzzer as one of her main challenges on "Jeopardy!" "Once I got there, I realized that winning 'Jeopardy!' is more about hand-eye coordination," she said. "I don't think I walked away from 'Jeopardy!' saying, 'I'm so dumb.' I just walked away knowing that I don't have the quickest reflexes."
Being on the show "is almost an athletic thing," Winter added. "It engages your heart, your mind and your hands, and it all takes place in one fluid, synchronized movement."
A "Jeopardy!" enthusiast, Winter said that she did not watch a single episode of the show between her installment's filming and airing because she was "so burnt out." Even so, she remains grateful for having had the opportunity to appear on one of her favorite game shows.
Since "Jeopardy!," Winter has been on tour in the Boston area doing promotional work with another "Jeopardy!" contestant from Harvard.
