Third place finish for Wilmington’s Jeopardy contestant

He didn’t win, but at least he was surrounded by friends. Jamie Santo landed a spot on the game show Jeopardy, but didn’t take home the big prize.

 

The freelance editor and secretary of the Wilmington Rugby Football Club made his debut on national television Wednesday night.

“Getting on Jeopardy was something I always wanted to do. I love anything that involves trivia (Jeopardy, crossword puzzles, Trivial Pursuit, etc.) — my friends say I have a lot of ‘useless knowledge’ — and I definitely thought it would be fun, which it was,” said Jamie.

The show was taped back in November, and last night he, along with a bunch of his friends, gathered for a viewing party at Dead Presidents Restaurant and Pub in Wilmington.

It took three tries for Jamie, who’s been vying for a spot on the trivia show for the past 14 years. Now 37, he finally got his shot after jumping through Jeopardy’s hoops, which includes an initial online test.

“You get 50 questions in 50 categories and you get eight seconds per question… Then, I got an email to go to, they had a regional test in Philly, and you take another 50 questions test. And afterwards, they do a little screen test where they put, they get three people at a time, buzzers, and you play a little mock game and they tape you,” said Jamie. “Once you take the screen test, you’re in a pool, a pool of potential contestants, and at that time it was only good for a year, now I think they stretched it to 18 months, well if you’re not called from that, then you’re back to stage one.”

Even though Jamie finished with about $21-thousand dollars, placing third earned him just a thousand dollars.