Watching Jeopardy! was a family tradition for Scott Riccardi, who would guess along with his parents and grandparents.
He had no idea that he would become one of the most successful Jeopardy! contestants ever and put his name in the game show’s record books.
Starting his 16-game winning streak on July 3, the engineer and Rutgers University graduate earned $455,000 in winnings, which put him in eighth place on the regular-season earnings chart. With 16 victories, he was equal for eighth place with former champion Ryan Long on the Leaderboard of Champions.
The 26-year-old Riccardi talked about the highs and lows of rewatching his historic run in a recent interview with NJ Advance Media.
“You’re just so nervous and it’s difficult to suddenly have to be yourself for 30 seconds to a minute in the middle of this intense trivia where you’re just really trying to focus,” Riccardi said, adding that the interview parts are probably the hardest for me to rewatch. For the most part, I had a vague recollection of exactly how everything transpired, so it was a lot of fun to relive everything. Although it’s one of the most significant events in your life, the intensity is so great that you frequently find yourself losing sight of some of the little things.
Riccardi adhered to the strategy tenets of placing large bets and responding first. He clarified that, even if the answer didn’t come to him right away, the competition is a matter of timing; you have to hear the hints and buzz in. For the most part, his strategy was successful: Riccardi rarely ran out of time or didn’t have the answer during his run.
In around 80% of cases, Riccardi said, it’s just a matter of me knowing the answer and attempting to enter first in the hopes of getting the rebound if someone else gets it incorrect. Looking back on that run, I believe there are a number of instances where it seems like there are two very plausible solutions to a certain problem. Frequently, I simply waited for someone else to enter and, ideally, remove one of those poor decisions for me.
In January (an airdate has not yet been set), Riccardi will return to compete in the Season 41 Tournament of Champions. A competitor needs to win five straight games throughout the regular season in order to qualify. He is using the same preparatory strategy that has placed him in the winner’s circle sixteen times.
“To be honest, I’m approaching the preparation for this the same way I did for the regular show,” Riccardi remarked. I’m still working on figuring out any blind spots and distinguishing between things that are simple to confuse.
With some of those riches, what does Riccardi want to purchase? Since he has been playing percussion for a long time, he will probably buy a marimba.
It was somewhat strange, Riccardi remarked, “that a couple marimba companies messaged me directly as soon as it was mentioned on the show.” Because they are so large and difficult to handle, logistics are the most important factor. It would be great to have a lovely five-octave vibraphone and marimba while I’m at it, once I’ve figured out a decent space arrangement for it.
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