Fun-Seeking Philosophy
“I read Stephen Hawkings’ Brief History of Time when I was in elementary school,” Chan says.
Though he may not have learned everything, his insatiable, lifelong quest for knowledge has served him well, from his time as a philosophy major at Swarthmore to his nine-day winning streak on Jeopardy!
Chan continued studying philosophy as a doctoral student at UCLA and a postdoctoral student at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), where he focused on bioethics. Chan has been teaching philosophy at St. Norbert College in Wisconsin since 2013.
Though his nerd bona fides are impressive, the origins of his historic winning streak were inauspicious.
Chan did well enough on the 12-minute, 50-question test to be invited to take round two. Then came an audition, where he believes a piece of trivia about his own life got him on the show.
“It wasn’t going so well, so I made sure to interrupt and said ‘Well, I do have a fun fact!’” The fun fact — that Chan had played Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers at pub trivia and beaten him — was a hit. “They really liked that because [Rodgers] was a guest host,” Chan remarked.
He then began prepping in earnest. Chan pored over past clues; identified recurring categories, like U.S. presidents, English monarchs, and operas; and studied them. The results speak for themselves.
All of the wins in Chan’s nine-day streak were considered “runaway victories,” which means he was so far ahead in points that none of the other contestants had a chance of catching up.
On day ten, a Shakespearean tragedy struck.
Jeopardy! sought the names of two characters from Much Ado About Nothing based on the Latin word for “blessed.” Chan wrote “Who are Beatrice & Benedict?”
But “Beatrice and Benedick” is the answer Jeopardy! was looking for.
Despite Chan’s loss, which caused an uproar among fans, he describes the experience of being as “the most fun I’ve had in my adult life.”
“It moves so fast, you don’t have time to worry about things,” says Chan.“When it airs, you finally get to appreciate what happened.”