Watch MN meteorologist Eric Ahasic win $18,401 on his first episode of ‘Jeopardy!’

Ross Raihala, Pioneer Press
·1 min read
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Minneapolis meteorologist Eric Ahasic won his first episode of “Jeopardy!,” which aired Monday. The 32-year-old took home $18,401, beating reigning champion Ryan Long, who had just won his 16th game in a row.

Ahasic, a meteorologist at the Chanhassen office of the National Weather Service, performed well throughout the game, offering the correct questions in topics ranging from science to history to film.

He also found two Daily Doubles in the second round, winning $3,200 in a true Daily Double in the D-Day category and losing $5,000 in the Cyrillic script category.

The Illinois native entered Final Jeopardy! with $10,800 and was the only one of the three contestants to provide the correct response to this: “Of the Argonauts seeking the golden fleece, these two from the same family were from Sparta, according to Homer.” (It was Castor and Pollux.)

The win ensures Ahasic a spot on Tuesday’s episode, which airs at 4:30 p.m. on KARE-TV.

As a teen, Ahasic fell hard for “Jeopardy!” during Ken Jennings’ record-breaking streak of 74 consecutive wins. He began applying for the show each year in 2006. After 15 tries, he made the final cut and shot his episodes in April. (The show films five episodes a day, twice a week.)

It was an auspicious start for Ahasic. Long, a rideshare driver from Philadelphia, now ranks ninth in the show’s players with the most consecutive wins.

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