Why Jeopardy! champion Liam Starnes nearly never appeared on the show
Liam Starnes became a huge hit with fans of the show after his six-game streak, but he almost missed out on appearing on it
Liam won six games in a row(Image: Jeapordy!/YouTube)
Jeopardy! contestant Liam Starnes is a fan favorite after his six-game winning streak.
But his successful experience almost never happened. When he received a message from the show telling him he had been cast on it, he was convinced it was a scam call. However, Starnes, who lives in Barrington Illinois decided to go against his gut feeling, and the rest is history.
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The 20-year-old, who is an undergraduate student, detailed what happened and his experiences on a Reddit thread. Starnes, a veteran of quiz bowl trivia competitions, heard he had been selected for the show after taking its entrance test.
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He said he “was in such a state of disbelief” that he thought it ”was a scam at first”. But he did reply to the message and then accepted he had landed a place in the show.
Starnes said: “Once it sank in that this was really happening, I knew I needed to find the right balance: should I study as much as I could, filling in my weaknesses but also adding a lot of extra pressure? Or do I ignore all thoughts about winning and losing and pretend like I’m just flying out to LA and playing a game on the Jeopardy stage for fun? I probably would have studied a bit more if I could do it over again, but overall I think I handled the pre-taping process well.”
But he did not feel he had what it takes to become a champion on the show at first. He explained: “Just three days before my first taping, I played horribly at a major college quizbowl tournament, and I couldn’t help feeling like that was a bad omen of what was to come.”
Liam became a fan-favorite over his enthusiasm and nervousness(Image: Jeapordy!/YouTube)
Liam said during the warmup for his first taping, he gave a disastrous performance. He said: “…I got absolutely destroyed in the rehearsal games. My dreams of becoming the next great Jeopardy! star and making the [Tournament of Champions] went out the window, and the thought of winning one game seemed like a near-impossible feat.”
But Starnes then went on to his amazing winning streak. He said: “It started to feel like I was part of the game, not just someone playing it.” Two of his victories were called “runaway” wins – games where one contestant ends the Double Jeopardy round with more than double their nearest challenger – meaning they can wager nothing on Final Jeopardy and still win.
He became a fan-favorite over his enthusiasm and nervousness plus his amazing knowledge. He also gained a huge following on social media over due to bearing a certain resemblance to Young Sheldon star Iain Armitage, who is former celebrity clue presenter on Jeopardy!
Starnes’ Jeopardy! run ended on his seventh game when he was defeated by Erin Morin who got the correct answer for Final Jeopardy. Despite crashing out of the show, Starnes was said he had a positive experience on it is grateful for the praise he received from fans.
He said: “It’s been amazing seeing all the support over the past ten days from family, friends, and fellow Jeopardy! fans. I’m being recognized more and more around Hyde Park, which still feels a bit odd but makes my heart warm every time someone congratulates me on my success.”
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