Jeopardy! National College Championship Winner Takes Home $250K Dollar Prize!

The Jeopardy! National College Championship finally came to an end on Tuesday night.

The primetime tournament featured 36 students from undergraduate universities and colleges in the United States. The top prize was $250,000 dollars. The second-place prize was $100,000 dollars, and the third-place finisher took home $50,000 dollars.

Fourth place received $35,000 dollars. The 8 semi-finalists each won $20,000 dollars and the 24 quarter-finalists each took home $10,000 dollars just for showing up!

After two weeks of competition, the finalists were Liz Feltner, Jaskaran Singh, and Raymond Goslow. Liz, a senior at Northeastern University, was from Baton Rouge, LA, and was majoring in political science and business administration. Jaskaran, a senior at the University of Texas in Austin, was from Plano, Texas, and was majoring in finance and economics. Raymond, a senior at Kennesaw State University, was from Austell, GA, and was majoring in geospatial sciences.

The final match was divided into two games.

The first round contained categories like A Place With Direction, Broadway Musicals, Digesting Some Literature, ___ or ___, Now For Something Completely Different, and A Career In Tech. At the end of the first round, Jaskaran was leading with $8,000 dollars. Raymond had $3,400 dollars and Liz had $2,200 dollars.

The second round contained categories such as The 18th Century, Mythic Constellations, True and Untrue Crime, We’ve Got The Blues, Lyrics To Remember, and Pithy Words and Phrases. At the end of the second round, Jaskaran had $30,400 dollars, Liz had $9,800 dollars, and Raymond had $6,600 dollars.

The Final Jeopardy! category was The Period Table. The clue read: “By 1890, discoverers of 3 'Nationalist Elements' filled table gaps: Scandium in Sweden, Germaniium in Germany, and this in France.”

Only Raymond and Jaskaran came up with a correct answer of “What is Gallium?” Liz had guessed “What is Francium?” Jaskaran wagered $2,000 dollars and won the game with $32,400 dollars. Raymond came in second with $13,200 and Liz became in third with $,5800.

The categories for the first round of the second game were Historic Potpourri, Numb with Numbers, “C” the Animals, Food Combos, A Day of Pop Culture, and Alliterative Phrases. At the end of the first round, Jaskaran was again leading with $7,300 dollars. Raymond had $4,200 dollars and Liz had $2,600 dollars.

The second round featured categories such as A State Capital Idea, Scary Stories, Classical Music, It’s Just About Time, Documentary Subjects, and Double Talk Words. At the end of the second round, Jaskaran had $19,300 dollars, Raymond had $17,800 dollars, and Liz had $4,600 dollars.

The Final Jeopardy! category was The 19th Century. The clue read: “An 1873 book title gave us this phrase for the period in the late 1800s of growth and prosperity and also corruption and greed.”

Raymond and Jaskaran again provided a correct answer of “What is the Gilded Age?” Liz guessed “What is the era of good feelings? Jaskaran wagered nothing and won the game with $19,300 dollars. Raymond wagered $15,999 and ended the game with $33,799 dollars. Liz ended the game with $1,600 dollars.

Adding those totals to the score of the previous game, Liz took home $50,000 dollars for a third-place total of $7,400 dollars. Raymond took home $100,000 dollars for a second-place total of $46,999 dollars. Jaskaran won the game and the grand prize of $250,000 dollars with his cumulative total of $51,700 dollars.

In an interview after the game, Jaskaran was asked how it felt to win the grand prize. “[It] feels pretty awesome,” he replied. “It’ll definitely go a long way towards paying my tuition and a lot more so that’s really great.”

When asked if he used any strategy in the final game, he replied, “Not particularly. I just, I guess, sort of just buzz fast and know things and that’s pretty much it. I don’t think there’s much more to it.”

Jaskaran said that the best part of the experience was “definitely getting to meet all the other contestants. I met so many cool people from all over the country. It was really a great experience.”

He gave a special shoutout to his parents, his sister, and his friends, saying that they “helped me, you know, prepare for this and generally just for being great friends all throughout my college career. William, Jason, Sendel… who else am I missing? Graham. All great guys. So thanks to them and everyone at home.”

If you missed the tournament, you're in luck! All episodes are currently available to stream on Hulu.