Narayan’s hits Jeopardy! jackpot with knowledge, steel-hard nerves
For Sharath Narayan, winning $100,000 as champion of the “Jeopardy!” Teen Tournament was exhilarating. Yet, his windfall held even greater meaning.
“Winning also showed me that some opportunities come only once in life, and you should take full advantage of those special circumstances,” he said.
Sharath, a sophomore at James Clemens High School, has watched “Jeopardy!” since he was very young. “Being on the show had been a dream of mine. My family and I watch “Jeopardy!” almost every day if we can,” he said.
Initially, he completed the “Jeopardy!” online test to appear on the show but was not called back for an audition. Undeterred, he applied again, passed the test and aced an audition; producers selected him for the show.
When Sharath received his confirmation call, “Jeopardy!” had just started at 6 p.m. (locally on WAAY), and he was watching it with his dad. “When we found out the news, we were all very excited and started jumping up and down.”
Usually filmed in California, “Jeopardy!” tapes its Teen Tournament in Washington D.C. at DAR Constitution Hall. “We stayed at the Washington Hilton, and Jeopardy provided the rooms,” he said.
During four days in D.C., Sharath and his fellow contestants had a one-day tour of the city, followed by two days filming all tournament episodes. “Five episodes are taped each day, so all of the quarterfinals happened on the first day. The semifinals and finals happened on the next day,” he said.
Sharath’s competitors are both juniors – Alec Fischthal of North Woodmere, N.Y., and Michael Borecki of Darien, Conn. Entering “Final Jeopardy!,” Sharath led at $20,000, compared to $13,600 and $10,000 for his competitors.
In the category “Famous Names,” the answer was “At a May 1989 ceremony in Cape Town, he received a bachelor of laws correspondence degree in absentia.” Sharath answered correctly with “Who is Nelson Mandela?” to finish in the lead with $28,000, followed by the competitors’ $16,500 and $0.
On day 2 of the finals in “Final Jeopardy!,” Sharath had $10,800 but trailed Alec at $11,600. Michael had $7,200. In the category “Early America,” the answer was “William Bradford wrote that this document was partly inspired by the ‘mutinous speeches’ of some passengers.” All three contestants answered correctly with “Mayflower Compact.” Michael doubled his money to $14,200 for his two-day total. Alec doubled his money to total $39,700. In the breathtaking finale, Sharath strategically calculated the minimum he needed to win, bet $901 and won the tournament with $39,701 – only $1 ahead of Fischthal.
“I didn’t want to play in a way that was that risky,” Sharath said. “I was more focused on controlling the board. Almost every time I regained control of the board, I went back to lower-valued clues and proceeded down the category.
“Winning the $100,000 has definitely been amazing, but the opportunity to be on the show was just as exciting for me. Everyone at school was extremely enthusiastic about my appearance, and I have received tremendous support from everyone in my family and in the community,” he added.
What plans does Sharath have for his winnings? “I enjoy traveling, so I would like to put some of the money aside for either a vacation to Europe or a cruise. The majority of the money, however, will probably be saved for college or invested for further use.”
Being on “Jeopardy!” gave him “more self-confidence and taught me that if I really worked to achieve something, then I could do it,” he said.
Sharath’s father, Aditya Gurushankar, works as a software product manager at Siemens. His mother, Rama Aditya, works as a software support engineer at Intergraph Corporation. Sharath’s sister, Avani Narayan, is 6 years old and a first-grader at Columbia Elementary School.
At James Clemens, Sharath is captain of Scholars Bowl team and a member of National Honor Society, Math Team and Interact Club and is a straight-A student.
