The eight-day champion is already among the top 10 highest-winning Jeopardy contestants ever.
(His winnings now stand at $291,200 after another victory on Friday’s episode.)
He would do so well.'
Matt Amodio on ‘Jeopardy’.Jeopardy Productions, Inc.
And so I said ‘Fine, I’ll do it for you.'"
That’s not to say Amodio isn’t aJeopardyfan very much the opposite, in fact.
“To see me on the stage is just surreal.
Matt Amodio on ‘Jeopardy’.Jeopardy Productions, Inc.
It’s a wonderful, wonderful feeling.”
I love getting to share that time with them."
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: How did you prepare forJeopardyonce you found out you were going to be a contestant?
LeVar Burton is the new guest host of ‘Jeopardy.'.CAROL KAELSON/JEOPARDY PRODUCTIONS, INC.
[Laughs] It’s a little bit of an exaggeration.
Did you have any other techniques for brushing up on knowledge?
I know James Holzhauertalked about reading children’s booksto prepare; did you do anything like that?
I’m not sure what children’s books he found that have all of this awesome information.
But my main source is Wikipedia.
I don’t know how people got knowledge prior to the age of the internet.
I just read as much as I can and hope to remember some of it.
Can you tell us about your strategy for actualJeopardygameplay?
So I would just take any notes I could from him.
I really hate it.
What was the experience of taping the show like?
I knowJeopardyfilms a lot of games in one day.
And I won, but my attitude is to tend to be hungry.
And so once I won one, I wasn’t sitting on my laurels or anything.
I said, “You know, that was good.
Let’s do it again.”
I went into a full day of taping saying, “This is just the dream.
I can’t believe I have the opportunity to do this.”
And to get the opportunity to come back as a returning champion was just astounding to me.
Each step of the way, I was just kind of amazed that it kept going.
Most of our time, we’re just amongst ourselves.
I was curious if there was any thinking or strategy behind that?
I don’t necessarily want to say too much about that.
I guess I just want to say that I hope nobody’s offended by it.
You were on set for LeVar Burton’shighly-anticipated run as guest hostofJeopardy.
What was it like working with him?
He is an awesome guy.
He just exudes a calmness and a coolness to him that I envy as a person.
And he was incredibly gracious.
I was honored to meet him.
I held my tongue; I’m sure he gets enough of that.
But I was floored by the experience.
I had high expectations going in just because of the legend he is, and he met them.
I’ll never forget it.
Are you looking forward to that?
I am, with a combination of anticipation and dread.
That’s going to be a more competitive stage than I’m prepared for mentally.
So I’m quite worried about that.
Hopefully I’ll do well, but I’ll be shaking in my boots a little bit.
This has been a blessing in terms of liberating me from that.
So on a very practical level, that’s helpful.
This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
