WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Adriana Harmeyer said she didn’t set out to gain supporters to watch her compete on Jeopardy! from Wednesday evening! episode started tensely.
But despite not being able to come in first to answer a question until after the first commercial break, Harmeyer rose to the top of her two competitors, earning the title of “Jeopardy! Champion” and taking home $26,200.
“It was a slow start — I wasn’t sure I was going to get in,” said Harmeyer, clinical assistant professor and archivist of University History in the Archives and Special Collections at Purdue University. “Somehow something clicked and I was able to get the timing right and finally get in.”
Because of that slow start, Harmeyer said she knew viewers who knew her connections to West Lafayette and Purdue would cringe at her missing questions about the Louisiana parish of Lafayette and the Apollo 12 mission, but she assures she knew them.
‘Especially the Apollo issue. “I work at Purdue, and of course I knew that, but everyone wants to point that out,” she said.
Getting comfortable with the buzzer in hand made for a slow start, according to Harmeyer.
“I thought I had a strategy, but I think I spent the whole episode changing what I was doing until something worked,” Harmeyer said. “I had seen all kinds of approaches that contestants used before starting the episode, and it seems like what works for one person might not work for everyone.”
In the last Jeopardy! The round pitted Harmeyer against then-champion, Abby Mann, as competitor Brian O’Shea was eliminated after running up a negative balance, but calculating that final bet was a whole new challenge.
“That last bet is a weird moment because suddenly you’re trying to do the math, looking at what I have and what the competition has, and how comfortable I am in the latter category,” Harmeyer explained. “I felt pretty comfortable in that category, even though I knew it could be anything, and I just wanted to play for the win.”
The last question about history asked: “This city attracted thousands of visitors even before a new shrine to a murder victim was dedicated there on July 7, 1220.” The answer: Canterbury.
Both Harmeyer and Mann answered the latest Jeopardy! question correctly, but with the combination of Harmeyer’s accumulated total and the final bet of $10,000, she was propelled above Mann to be crowned the new Jeopardy! Champion.
With the news of her win, Harmeyer said it’s all still a bit hazy, but the positivity surrounding her competition has been her biggest takeaway.
“I’ve had a lot of messages, emails and texts and spoke to a few people in person this morning,” she said. “I know I’ve said this before, but the positivity of the amount of people supporting me is greater than I could ever imagine. I’m so grateful for it.”
Harmeyer will compete again Thursday evening on Jeopardy! episode at 7:30 PM
Jillian Ellison is a reporter for the Journal and Courier. She can be reached via email at jellison@gannett.com. Follow her on X at @ellison_writes.
This article originally appeared in the Lafayette Journal & Courier: Purdue pro wins $26,000 Jeopardy on Wednesday!, will compete on Thursday
