Pop quiz: Philadelphia, a Rubik’s Cube, Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations and William Rehnquist all have this in common.
To phrase it as a question, “What are Final Jeopardy answers Alan Lin correctly answered?”
By the time his six-day winning streak on Jeopardy! came to an end on May 2, the software engineer had brought a dose of game-show fame to Santa Barbara.
Lin had spent the past five years trying out for the iconic trivia program before finally getting the opportunity last winter.
“I’ve always been a fan of Jeopardy! since I was young,” he told Noozhawk. “Right after I graduated college, I started getting more seriously into it; I started watching the show daily and playing along as well.”
Bespectacled and younger looking than his 25 years, Lin moved to California from Illinois in middle school, and studied computer science and neuroscience at Caltech.
Since graduating, he’s worked at Green Hills Software, a downtown Santa Barbara company focused on embedded systems — the computers in devices like microwaves and car steering systems that many people don’t realize exist.
Lin auditioned for the show last August, seven months after passing his online test — the first step to getting on the show.
In December, he was in the Culver City studio as an alternate in case a regular contestant didn’t show. He did not get a shot at the game board that day, but was told that he would get a call-back.
Then, in January, he taped the seven episodes in which he appeared.
Though his Caltech studies centered on computers and the brain, Lin said his strong suits lie not just in science, but art and literature.
Studying up for his big break meant immersing himself in topics he hadn’t learned in years, like history and geography, as well as topics too broad to specialize in, like movies and music.
Lin described a spreadsheet he put together documenting Academy Awards trivia, like best films and winning actors and actresses.
But the preparation paid off: Lin came away $123,600 richer by the time Philadelphia attorney Liz Fischer took him down.
“I felt just so incredibly nervous throughout that whole day,” he recalled. “It all kind of passed like a dream, especially because of how quickly they’re filming.”
According to The Jeopardy! Fan, a website that meticulously tracks a plethora of contestant statistics, Lin correctly answered 147 of the clues he buzzed in for. He was wrong only 14 times.
Viewers got to see his success unfold over a week. But on set, he completed his run — tied for fourth-longest so far this season — in a day.
“There’s not really any downtime. From the moment you walk in to the moment you walk out, you have to be at 100-percent concentration.”
Though contestants can invite some family and friends to a taping, Jeopardy! participants are required to keep mum about everything but the fact that they will appear on the show on the date of their first broadcast.
And while each taping lasts about as long as the episode itself, contestants spend virtually no more time with 33-year host Alex Trebek than what viewers at home see, Lin said.
While the television personality is not an unapproachable guy, Lin said, “he stands around and talks to you for the closing credits, and as soon as the closing credits stop rolling, he walks out again.
“He still has this aura of Alex Trebek, but I don’t feel like I’m going to be getting drinks with him anytime soon.”
Lin noted that by winning more than five days, he’s almost surely guaranteed a spot in the Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions — a game-show playoffs of sorts for the season’s winningest players.
Taking on the best of the best will require a whole new study regimen, he said, later admitting that he found many of show’s questions surprisingly accessible.
“Sometimes Jeopardy! has really uneven categories. That thing that you think is going to be really weird and really difficult might turn out to be really easy or right up your alley.”
— Noozhawk staff writer Sam Goldman can be reached at sgoldman@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.