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Photo credit: Todd Shapera ’79 |
A Jeopardy! Update
At the time of our last eNewsletter, it was unclear what fate awaited Vassar freshman Greg Lichtenstein ’12 as the Jeopardy! 2009 College Championship began. As readers of this eNewletter may already know from having watched the show, Lichtenstein triumphed in the first round, edging out the competition and marking himself as the only freshman to make it to the semifinals. In Lichtenstein’s next appearance, which was broadcast the following week, he led the pack up until the Final Jeopardy! round, where he came in second to a senior from the University of Missouri — but nonetheless, walked away with $10,000.
Lichtenstein, who spent his spring break in California with his family while filming Jeopardy!, was unable to reveal the outcome of his exploits to any friends in the interim. “Surprisingly,” he says, “it was not too difficult keeping it a secret. It was almost like a little game.” The suspense certainly built up on campus, where students gathered eagerly at screening events to cheer on their classmate. Greg, who was also in attendance, notes that although the experience of watching himself on TV was “weird,” he was “very happy to see so many people come to watch with me and support me.”
The following is a sample of some of the many Jeopardy!answers Lichtenstein correctly provided questions to. See how you do! We’ve included the answers — that is, the questions — at the very end of the eNewsletter.*
- Of Nobel Prize literature laureates, this documenter of the Gulag has the longest one-word surname.
- In the Crusades, the knights of this Mediterranean island had to contend with fire-hurling Saracens; the FDNY later adopted their cross as a badge of honor.
- After a mating flight, male ants wander off and die; queen ants tear these off and search for a nesting site.
- This archduke of Austria, who became emperor of Mexico, died before a firing squad in 1867.
* The questions to Greg Lichtenstein’s Jeopardy! answers: 1. Who was Solzhenitsyn? 2. What is Malta? 3. What are wings? 4. Who was Maximilian?