It all started with Maruchan Ramen Noodles, and ended with $100,000 in his pocket, and Vice-President Joe Biden giving him a shout-out. Richard Montgomery alumnus Sam Deutsch won the Jeopardy College Championship, which aired on February 12.
How does one even get on Jeopardy? Well, for Deutsch, a junior at the University of Southern California, the journey began at RM with the It’s Academic Club. RM’s nationally ranked club helped acclimate Deutsch for the Quiz Bowl environment, but also introduced him to Raynell Cooper, an older classmate who won the Jeopardy Teen tournament in 2011.
Cooper’s ordeal inspired Deutsch to try out himself for the show. “It’s an online test followed by an in-person audition” in New York, Deutsch said. “Something like 7,000 people take the test, and 300 are called back, at which point only 15 are selected for the show.” The contest was filmed over two days in the Los Angeles Jeopardy studios. As Deutsch told USC News, “I filmed three episodes in a row. They have a ton of lights and, they’re beating down on you. Everybody wears their college sweaters, so it’s hot from that, too.”
Cooper said he did not have to give much advice to Deutsch besides how to wager, something Deutsch did well on his way to victory. “He wagered beautifully all tournament,” Cooper said. “I felt like a proud dad watching him take control of the final and nail that last Final Jeopardy.”
As for studying for Jeopardy, Deutsch has three Richard Montgomery teachers to thank. Mr. Hines, Mr. Stillman, and Mr. Beach all gave lectures whose notes Deutsch reread before he went on Jeopardy.
In all of the rush, Deutsch did have time to have a chuckle after answering the correct brand of Ramen Noodles from the logo displayed. For Deutsch’s pediatrician mother, who was in attendance with her husband, the high-sodium food is the last thing she wants Deutsch snacking on. However, “I promise it’s not me” who eats it, Deutsch said. “It’s just funny because my roommate makes Ramen every night.”
Deutsch found himself down heading into Final Jeopardy, 8,600 to 16,400, trailing Niki Peters of the University of California, Berkeley. Deutsch wagered it all, a decision he regretted only for a minute.
During his Senate service, the Final Jeopardy question read, which lasted from 1973 to 2009, this man cast 12,810 votes.
Deutsch initially wrote Robert Byrd, but scribbled out the late Senator from West Virginia to replace it with Vice-President Joe Biden. “It was the 2009,” Deutsch said. “I thought that Byrd died in 2010 and was trying to think of alternatives and by some miracle Biden popped into my head.” Biden left the Senate in January, 2009 to join President Obama in the White House. “I actually was kind of freaking out because I realized if I got it wrong and Sarah also got it wrong I would end up in 3rd by a dollar, bumping me down from 50,000 to 25,000,” Deutsch said. “I asked to change my wager to be two dollars less, and was told by the producers it was too late. Had I not gotten Biden right, that would have cost me 25,000 dollars!”
Luckily, Deutsch did not have to deal with anything less. He got the question correct, and earned $100,000. Plus, Biden was watching and was impressed that Deutsch got the final question right, despite its being a tough one from Jeopardy host Alex Trebek.
Deutsch plans on donating some of the money to the Nina Hyde Center for Breast Cancer Research at Georgetown University. Deutsch’s mother, Hillary Light-Deutsch, is a breast cancer survivor. “I’m really proud he’s donating to such a great cause,” Light-Deutsch said, who is an avid fundraiser for breast cancer research herself. As for the rest of his small fortune, he plans to save most of it for law school or a future house.
