Hamilton resident Matt Ruprecht (right) stands with host Alex Trebek on the set of television quiz show Jeopardy! Ruprecht appeared on the Jan. 8, 2013 edition of the show.
Matt Ruprecht skipped second grade, graduated high school as valedictorian and took physics courses in college—even though he majored in math—because they looked fun.
The 27-year-old Hamilton resident has filled his life with academic and intellectual challenges, meeting each one soundly and successfully, from his time at Wilson Elementary School in the Hamilton school district to his career as an actuary for a reinsurance firm.
But there was something he hadn’t achieved, and every evening for as long as he could remember, he would sit in front of the television and practice. He wanted to be on Jeopardy!
After years of shouting answers at the TV screen, the 2002 Hamilton High West graduate reached his goal to play Jeopardy! for real last October. He qualified to appear on the show April 2011, and taped an episode Oct. 15, 2012, after an agonizing 18-month wait. The episode aired Jan. 8.
It culminated a lifelong quest for Ruprecht, even if the experience left him wanting more.
“It was great,” Ruprecht said. “It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I wish I could do it again. The game goes so fast.”
Ruprecht finished in third place, although he held the lead for much of the game. A difficult final question stumped all three contestants, and Ruprecht bet the largest percentage of his earnings on the final question, which dropped him to last.
The answer to the clue—“This president lived the longest after leaving office.”—had changed just five weeks before the taping. The correct answer was “Who is Jimmy Carter?” Ruprecht’s answer—“Who is Herbert Hoover?”—had been correct for more than 54 years, from July 5, 1958 to Sept. 8, 2012.
Ruprecht said he wasn’t sure how he came up with Hoover, just that it seemed right. Those close to Ruprecht said he often comes up with answers that way, promptly and inexplicably. He’s been correct in every case except the one on Jeopardy!
“He amazes me sometimes with how he sits there and comes up with these answers,” said Ruprecht’s mother, Janice. “I ask him, ‘How do you know that?’ He says, ‘I don’t know. I just do.’”
A quick mind has always been Ruprecht’s trademark, Janice Ruprecht said, although it seems to run in the family. Ruprecht’s sister, Stephanie Meinhardt, also skipped second grade at Wilson Elementary School, and now teaches math at Nottingham High School. Meinhardt said Jeopardy! was more her brother’s thing, not hers, but she watched Ruprecht’s episode with excitement.
There was plenty to be excited about, as no one really anticipated Ruprecht’s shot to come. They hoped it would, but they couldn’t expect anything, considering the odds and past history, Janice Ruprecht said.
To qualify for the show, contestants must pass a 50-question online test, be randomly selected from the successful applicants, pass another test and interview with producers. Ruprecht passed the initial online test a few years ago, but never heard back. He completed it again in January 2011, and passed again. This time, he received one of the randomly selected invitations to participate in an in-person audition in April 2011. This in itself is an honor, as about 100,000 people take the initial online test, and 4,000 get called back. From there, just 400 appear on Jeopardy! each year.
Ruprecht performed well enough during the interview process to be placed in that small contestant pool. The show’s contestant coordinators told him to be ready for a call that could come any time in the next 18 months.
“You go home and try to forget about it,” Ruprecht said.
Sure enough, 18 months later—in September 2012—Ruprecht received a call. He’d need to fly to Los Angeles for a taping the next month.
Jeopardy! tapes two days each week, five episodes each of those days. On the day of his taping, Ruprecht and the other contestants that day had to be in the lobby of their hotel by 7:30 a.m. A shuttle picked them up, and brought them to the studio.
At this point, no one knows who they will be competing against or even when they’ll play. Ruprecht said he felt extremely nervous as he rode to the studio, but he seemed to be in good company.
“Nobody really spoke too much,” Ruprecht said. “I think everyone was nervous. Finally, somebody said something that broke the ice, and we started to talk to each other.”
Once at the studio, Ruprecht met with the contestant coordinators and filled out paperwork. The coordinators asked Ruprecht to submit five interesting facts about himself, three of which would wind up in the hands of the show’s host, Alex Trebek. It’s up to Trebek to choose which fact he’ll bring up on-air.
At this point, Ruprecht’s nervousness began to fade. His calm surprised him, but he said he stayed focused on the task at hand and not on the audience or the cameras.
The contestants play two full practice games once everyone completes their paperwork, with people switching in and out so everyone gets a feel for the buzzer and the set. The day’s contestants all sit together in a section at the front of the audience. They are not allowed to interact with anyone else, and aren’t even allowed to turn around to acknowledge family or friends in the crowd.
Ruprecht’s parents, Janice and Ralph, made the trip from their lifelong home in Hamilton to California to watch the taping.
“It was so exciting,” Janice said. “This has been one of his dreams.”
Ruprecht’s girlfriend, Megan Kardine, joined Janice and Ralph in Los Angeles. Amazingly, she also has appeared on Jeopardy! The Pennsylvania resident was on the show in April 2010—she missed out on first place by a few dollars—and helped Ruprecht prepare.
“That was really helpful,” Ruprecht said. “And I got her perspective on the day.”
During the taping, Trebek asked Ruprecht on-air about his girlfriend’s Jeopardy! experience—her appearance on the show was one of the five facts the Hamilton resident submitted. Ruprecht let it be nationally known he wanted to best his girlfriend.
After the show, Trebek playfully jabbed at Ruprecht for coming up a bit short of his goal.
“He asked if my girlfriend was in the audience,” Ruprecht said. “He said, ‘Where is she?’ If you watch the show, [during the credits] you see he’s pointing in the audience at her, and gives her a thumbs up. Then, he points at me and he gives me an OK, a sideways hand. He was joking because I said I was trying to beat her.”
Trebek tempered the barb with some encouragement. He complimented the players for such a competitive game, and joked he’d have to retire so that Ruprecht could get back on the show. Rules stipulate contestants cannot appear on Jeopardy! again until after Trebek moves on. The Hamilton resident said he isn’t actively rooting for it, but he said he would like to try again once Trebek leaves the show.
In the meantime, Ruprecht continues to watch Jeopardy! regularly, and he still shouts the answers at the television. He has to be prepared, just in case that second chance comes.
“It’s like a ritual,” Janice Ruprecht said. “He sits there and answers all the questions. Even now.”
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