Page 17 - CEMS News Summer 2020

STUDENT NEWS
This is Jeopardy!
CEMS undergraduate Nibir Sarma wins $100,000 in Jeopardy! College Championship.
After a rigorous process of written tests, interviews, and show simulations, Nibir Sarma (ChE ’22) was among
15 students nationwide selected to compete for the $100,000 top prize in the 2020 Jeopardy! College Championship, which aired April 6-17, 2020. Already a seasoned trivia enthusiast, having participated in both high school Quiz Bowl and the University of Minnesota Quiz Bowl Club, Sarma displayed his prowess on the popular game show with a combination of swift accuracy and strategy as he wagered (and won!) more than a
few “True” Daily Doubles during the four rounds of play, resulting in his tremendous championship win.
Sarma is the first-ever University of Minnesota student to win the championship since the special collegiate tournament started in 1989. “I’m so proud and happy to represent the state of Minnesota, and also represent students at large public universities who sort of get viewed in a different way than, say, some private colleges,” Sarma said in a press release. “I really love representing my hometown college and my community.”
With his win, Sarma advances to the Tournament of Champions competition (filming date TBD) in the hopes of continuing his success. He provided these additional insights regarding his experience:
What have you spent some of your winnings on?
I’ve purchased an electric guitar, an electric bass,
and some music production software. While I already have been playing guitar for a while, learning bass has definitely kept me busy in the past few months.
Tell us about your tribute to Alex Trebek. (Sarma held such a commanding lead, he could cross out the correct Final Jeopardy! response and offer a salute to Trebek. With Historic Figures as the Final Jeopardy! category, the clue was: “In legend, this real European leader fielded an elite corps called The 12 Peers that included Oliver & Roland.” Sarma had the correct answer, “Who
is Charlemagne?” but crossed it out and wrote “Who Da Man?” After Trebek read his answer, he responded, “You Da Man, Alex.”)
The idea to say “You da man,” was not actually mine, Marshall Comeaux, the contestant from Texas, came
Nibir Sarma on the Jeopardy! game show set during the Jeopardy! College Championship. Photo courtesy of Jeopardy Productions, Inc.
up with the idea that if one of us contestants had a guaranteed victory at some point in the tournament, we should do that. I simply happened to be the one who got to be in that situation.
Winning a game show is a pipe dream for many people. When was the moment you felt like you could win the entire tournament?
In the moment, I don’t think I really felt how significant it was that I won; I was just happy that I had done it. I don’t know that there was a single moment in which I realized I had won, since it was sort of a gradual process of me increasing my lead over the other competitors. Maybe when I hit the last Daily Double and chose to only wager $5.
Who was the most unexpected person to congratulate you on your win?
I actually got a shout-out on Twitter from Kaitlyn Dever, star of “Booksmart,” after I answered a question about the movie on Jeopardy!
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