St. Norbert College professor Ben Chan once beat Aaron Rodgers at pub trivia. Now he's the newest 'Jeopardy!' champ.
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Ben Chan became the latest “Jeopardy!” champ all on his own, but he might have Aaron Rodgers to thank for getting him there in the first place.
The St. Norbert College assistant philosophy professor won $16,001 on Wednesday’s episode of the TV quiz show, handily defeating a nonprofit arts administrator from Pittsburgh and an artist from Virginia Beach, Virginia, by knowing things like the atomic number for radium and the Pharrell Williams song “Happy.”
Chan, who said competing on the show was a bucket list item for him, will return Thursday with two new opponents, but topping the story he shared with host Ken Jennings on Wednesday could be the bigger challenge.
Each night, the host briefly chats up each contestant by asking them about a fun fact from their life.
Jennings: “Ben, I’m told that I’m not the first ‘Jeopardy!’ host you’ve spent some quality trivia time with, is that right?”
Chan: “Yes, so a few years ago, Aaron Rodgers was recuperating from an injury and came out for pub trivia, and I’m happy to say that I beat Aaron Rodgers at pub trivia.”
Jennings: “Wait, so Aaron Rodgers just shows up in the bar with his trivia team?”
Chan confirmed that he did indeed.
“Was he legit?" Jennings asked.
“He’s legit,” Chan said. “... Truth be told, the next week he came back and he beat me, so maybe that could be his fun fact.”
The Green Bay Packers quarterback is a well-known and longtime “Jeopardy!” fan. He guest hosted 10 nights of “Jeopardy!” in 2021 and won "Celebrity Jeopardy!" in 2015.
Chan tweeted during a campus watch party with faculty and students at St. Norbert College in De Pere that he told that same Rodgers story for his audition.
“Pretty sure that got me on the show,” he wrote. “Thank you #12!”
More: St. Norbert College professor Ben Chan wins 'Jeopardy!' again, and it wasn't even close
If name-dropping Rodgers helped him make the cut as a contestant, it was all smarts and some luck that got him through his first night.
He picked all three Daily Doubles randomly hidden on the board, but a $7,000 wager on the first one ended up costing him. He incorrectly answered this clue: "Queen Elizabeth’s II’s beloved dogs included a dorgi named Candy, a mix of these 2 breeds."
Chan went with a Dalmatian and a corgi, but it was a dachshund and a corgi.
He was able to rebound in the Double Jeopardy! round, thanks to those two additional Daily Doubles and a conservative wager of $999 on Final Jeopardy!, a Bill of Rights question he incorrectly answered.
Chan and Rodgers weren’t the only Wisconsin connection on Wednesday’s show. The city of Wausau showed up in the Our Nation of Immigration category: "A museum in Wausau, Wisconsin is devoted to the culture of this Laotian people who helped the U.S. & often came here.” Answer: Who are the Hmong?
Kendra Meinert is an entertainment and feature writer at the Green Bay Press-Gazette. Contact her at 920-431-8347 or kmeinert@greenbay.gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @KendraMeinert.
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This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: New 'Jeopardy!' champ Ben Chan once beat Aaron Rodgers at pub trivia
