Engineering and Wharton senior Siddharth Chandrasekhar has been watching Jeopardy! for as long as he can remember, but last night was the first time he saw his own face staring back at him.
Monday, Chandrasekhar qualified for the semifinals of the nationally broadcast Jeopardy! College Championship, ending the night with $28,401. He was one of 15 college undergraduates participating in the competition. As a semifinalist, he is now guaranteed to walk home with at least $10,000.
The qualification process began with an online test administered in February. According to Chandrasekhar, about 10,000 college students around the country took the test. The test consisted of 50 trivia questions, and contestants had 10 seconds to answer.
“I didn’t even realize it was the day of the test until that day. My friend told me about it, and I just went and did it, and here I am,” he said.
About three weeks later, Chandrasekhar was notified that he was one of 250 who qualified for an in-person audition in June. This September, Chandrasekhar received a call from the contestant coordinator in Los Angeles informing him that he would be on the show.
He flew west on Oct.18 and taped the show for two weeks.
Chandrasekhar said he did not prepare extensively for the competition. He said, “The things I learn in [Management and Technology] don’t show up in trivia, unfortunately, but I’m just someone who just remembers everything. I like to learn, and I’m good at recalling things.”
At Penn, he is president of the Penn Academic Demolition Team, more commonly known as the Quiz Bowl Team. The team competes at universities across the country and hosts tournaments on campus. Chandrasekhar is also on the Penn Raas dance team and a member of the Sigma Nu fraternity.
On Monday night, his friends threw a viewing party in thier fraternity house. College Senior David Faber, a friend of Chandrasekhar’s and member of Sigma Nu, said, “We all knew that he went [to LA], but it wasn’t real until we saw him next to Alex Trebek.”
College sophomore Robbie Berg was on Jeopardy! College Championship last February, but did not advance past the quarterfinals. He said, “I was cheering him on; it was so exciting, and I hope he keeps on winning!”
Monday’s episode was the first of five quarterfinals. Nine contestants will advance to the semifinals, which will air next Wednesday.
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