Squeezing the buzzer and answering trivia questions has been the simple half about being the reigning champ on “Jeopardy!” for Ryan Long – now for 11 straight reveals after Friday’s nail-biting win.
And that is sensible.
After all, his mind is a “storage locker of knowledge.” That’s how Long described the best way his thoughts works to gameshow host Mayim Bialik, who was clearly impressed following the Mount Airy resident’s fifth consecutive victory final week. The win included Long giving the proper response of Lake Baikal to the Final Jeopardy clue, “It’s referred to as ‘the blue eye of Siberia.'”
“Everything that comes out here his floating around in here somewhere,” Long defined, pointing to his head.
The tougher half of being on “Jeopardy!” – the half that will get tougher with every episode he wins – is being in limelight, significantly with regards to answering questions on himself.
Long was capable of put aside his qualms about being on TV attributable to his love for “Jeopardy!” and a want to make a title for himself.
“I’m at that age where you start thinking about what you’ve accomplished in life,” he informed PhillyVoice in an interview earlier this week.
Long, 39, beforehand labored for SEPTA, then in January 2021 he was hospitalized at Chestnut Hill Hospital for 3 weeks with a critical case of COVID-19. There was a time his docs questioned whether or not he would survive, he has stated. When he did get better, he discovered he not might deal with the bodily pressure of his SEPTA job.
That’s how he ended up as a rideshare driver for Uber and Lyft, making any cash he might to assist his 8-year-old-son Nathan. He admittedly has struggled with cash since getting out of the hospital. That he wanted assist getting the money collectively to purchase his aircraft ticket to Los Angeles and he headed west with simply two button-down shirts and two sweater vests is a component of the lore of his champion run and makes it really easy to root for him.
Don’t neglect how Long received the primary 5 video games with out sporting his glasses.
In case anyone’s questioning why I’m consistently squinting and adjusting throughout the game…it’s as a result of my glasses are 3000 miles away, the place they may do probably the most good. #jeopardy
— Ryan Long (@blirish_charm) May 16, 2022
Long’s job makes him totally different from most of his “Jeopardy!” opponents. Similarly, so does his academic background.
Most of the opposite contestants have school levels, and lots of have superior levels, too. Long graduated from George Washington High School in the Northeast and attended a yr of group school.
But Long is unflappable. He was assured his information of motion pictures and sports activities, two topics that he stated are sometimes weaknesses for contestants, would give him a aggressive edge when he utilized to be on “Jeopardy!” greater than a yr in the past. So far he is been appropriate in that evaluation.
The “Jeopardy!” day by day field scores present, on Thursday, Long gave the proper responses for all 5 questions in the class Movie Co-Stars. On Wednesday, he ran the class Movie Supervillains, and on May 20 episode, Long answered one other film set of movie-themed clues in the class One-Name Oscar Winners.
That final show information helped safe his fifth win and a spot in the present’s Tournament of Champions.
Long’s sports activities experience arrange probably the most dramatic win of his reign on Friday evening. Headed into Final Jeopardy, Long had $13,000 and trailed Aaron Gulyas, a group school historical past professor from Michigan, with $14,800. The class was Sports & Entertainment, and Long wager large on himself, risking all however $1 of his pot. It paid off when he accurately answered Peyton Manning to the clue: In 2021, this Hall of Fame athlete launched Omaha Productions.
Through Thursday, Long had received $209,300, the tenth largest complete amongst “Jeopardy!” winners this season.
That cash will make a distinction for him and his son, he stated. He is planning to make use of some of his winnings to take Nathan on a fishing journey.
Long enjoys the peace and solitude of deep sea fishing, like his father did, he stated, and his favourite fishing spot is on the shore in Belmar.
Long’s mom is a Black girl who had moved to West Philly from Georgia when she was 9, and his father is a Northeast Philly native of Irish descent. His Twitter deal with, @blirish_charm, is a nod to these ethnicities.
Long’s father labored a number of jobs, together with a stint as a Philadelphia police officer, and instilled in his son a love of studying and trivia and would usually pose difficult inquiries to him.
“But then he wouldn’t answer,” Long stated. “He would expect me to figure it out myself.”
When Long was about 10-years-old, his father despatched him to a Mennonite household’s farm in Harleysville for weeks at a time in the summer season. His dad met the household at Reading Terminal Market.
“I picked peas,” Long stated, an expertise few, if any, of his friends in University City shared with him.
Also round that point, Long’s father determined to maneuver the household to Bensalem as a result of “he was tired of finding crack vials on his doorstep,” Long stated.
The unique plan had been transfer to Northeast Philly, however Long stated his dad and mom struggled to search out a realtor prepared to carry a mixed-race household into the predominantly white neighborhoods in the Northeast.
In Bucks County, Long was stunned to be taught the suburbs weren’t proof against crime. He remembers his bike was stolen not lengthy after he moved in, one thing he had by no means handled in Philly.
Long’s dad and mom separated when he was 13 years outdated, after which Long’s dad died when he was 17. He moved to his mother’s home in Philly, and that is when he enrolled at George Washington High.
Although he was by no means a nice scholar, Long cherished to learn. He was influenced by the works of historical Greek creator Homer and Jack Kerouac, the daddy of the beatnik motion and American counterculture.
Long grew up watching “Jeopardy!” In an episode this week, he stated, as a little one, he watched the gameshow along with his mother and browse the newspaper along with his dad. Back then, his successful streak would have been capped at 5 nights, a coverage Long needs was nonetheless in place.
“It’s just nice to get different people on,” he stated. “I like variety.”
Currently, Long is tied for the fourth longest successful streak on “Jeopardy!” this season with Jonathan Fisher, of Coral Gables, Florida. Fisher has ended the run of Matt Amodio, whose tenure as champion started final season and lasted 38 episodes. Amy Schneider surpassed that mark later earlier this season with a 40-episode successful streak.