An Ottawa resident is officially a Jeopardy! champion. Rian Robertson, a software engineer, earned the prestigious title in an episode of the long-running trivia show that aired Thursday evening. “It was pretty, pretty surreal,” Roberston told Newstalk 580 CFRA’s Ottawa at Work with Patricia Boal on Friday. Robertson won the match with a total of $16,100. While he missed on the Final Jeopardy! question, Robertson had already secured a runaway victory over his two opponents. “I was a bit lucky there at the end of the Double Jeopardy! to uncover the last Daily Double with not much money on the board,” he said. “I kind of had to do some quick mental math, and I’m pretty sure I pretty sure the math added up such that even if somebody got all the rest of the clues right, they wouldn’t be within half of striking distance.” Robertson says Thursday’s appearance was the culmination of roughly 15 years of trying to get on the show. After making it to the audition portion of the casting process four times, Robertson finally got the call he had been waiting for this summer. “I’ve been watching it since a kid with my dad,” he said. “I mean, when you get that first clue right as a kid, it’s like, ‘oh man, that felt good,’ and you want to know more about more things, right? So, at some point, I was like, it would be fun to get on.” While the episode only aired this week, Robertson filmed his appearance back in August and has had to keep the win a secret ever since. “Basically, the only one who knew the results was my wife, because she was a guest in the audience,” he said. Robertson says he watched his first episode in a pub with some friends but has a more low-key evening planned for his second appearance on the show, which airs on Friday. “Tonight, I’m just going to probably watch at home. My wife and eldest son are actually travelling, so I’m at home with the three other kids. So more of a low-key event tonight,” he said. While he could not provide any spoilers for his second episode, he did say it earned rave reviews from one audience member. “I guess the only thing I can say and how I’ve been sort of hyping the episode is that the lady sitting next to my wife in the audience called it the best game of Jeopardy! she’s ever watched,” Robertson said. While Robertson has been sitting on the knowledge of his win for some time, he says he hasn’t yet considered what he’ll do with the $16,100 prize. “I hadn’t even really thought of that, to be honest,” he said. “I just love the game so much. The money is just nice to have. It’s just more about the experience and playing the game.”
