Meet Ryan Long, the Philly rideshare driver who’s on a Jeopardy! winning streak

This story originally appeared on 6abc.

Mount Airy’s Ryan Long is on a Jeopardy! winning streak.

Long won his fifth game straight on Thursday night, winning a total of $105,801.

The Philadelphia rideshare driver is also winning hearts across the globe.
Long is clearly brilliant, but he is also very humble.

Long is an Uber and Lyft driver trying to pay the bills. He says doctors doubted he would win his battle with COVID-19 last year.

Long also fosters baby kittens.

And in case fans were wondering why he’s been squinting on the show, it’s because he forgot his glasses 3,000 miles away in Philadelphia.

He also only owns two dress shirts, so he’s been rotating them on the show.

“I have to give a shout-out to the wardrobe people because they did wonders with what I brought: two shirts and two sweater vests,” said Long. “That’s all I had. That’s all I could afford. I figured I wasn’t going to be there longer than a day.”

The George Washington High School graduate only did one year of community college, but he’s an avid reader who’s been studying his whole life.

“I don’t actually know what I know,” he laughs. “I read a lot of things, and stuff gets stuck. When I was a kid, I read the dictionary for fun.”

He also loves a good impersonation and showed off his best Arnold Schwarzenegger voice during the show.

On Thursday’s episode, Long defeated fellow Philadelphian Bradford Pearson and Atlanta’s Julie Ann Crommett, taking home $19,201 for the day.

Thursday’s win also got Long into the Tournament of Champions.