Jamie Ding started his 32nd game of “Jeopardy!” by picking a clue from the category “Entertaining Demises.” That choice was a harbinger of what was to come: the end of a popular champion’s reign on the show.
The new champion as of Monday is Greg Shahade, a chess player from Philadelphia.
Ding won over “Jeopardy!” fans with quirky charisma and a penchant for wearing his favorite color, orange. His 31-game streak landed him at No. 5 in the show’s all-time rankings for consecutive wins (host Ken Jennings is still No. 1 with 74). He is also No. 5 in highest regular-season winnings with $882,605 (Jennings tops that list, too, with $2.5 million).
Ding, who plans to continue in his job as an administrator in a New Jersey housing agency, will return to “Jeopardy!” for the next Tournament of Champions. Below, he reflects on his run.
At what point in the final game did you know you were cooked?
Greg played great and beat me to the buzzer several times. He got the first Daily Double and I was like, “OK.” Then he got the second one. Then he got the third one, and I felt like things were pretty grim. On the other hand, it was only the very last clue that I got wrong that made it a runaway on his part. I didn’t really give up until it was mathematically impossible to win.
Did anything feel different? Did it seem like something had come off your fastball?
I do think I was a little bit rusty after a pretty long layoff. [Ding had 10 days and a trip home to New Jersey between tapings.] Also, when I packed my clothing for the trip back out to L.A., I had all these orange clothes but I forgot to pack underwear or a change of socks. So was I a little out of sorts? Maybe. But I don’t think I was meaningfully incapacitated.
Whether you were winning big or on the ropes, you always seemed even-keeled on camera. Did it feel that way to you?
Honestly I never felt too bad or too elated. I was just curious to see what would happen. The tensest I ever got was probably the game that aired April 23 [which Jennings called an “all-timer”]. That came down to the wire and there was so much money we were wagering.
Did you do anything to prepare your mental state as a contestant?
There is a little mantra that I learned when I trained on public speaking at the New Jersey Leadership Collective back in 2020. You close your eyes and say to yourself, “May you be happy. May you be healthy. May you be safe from internal and external harm. May you speak truthfully.” And then you open your eyes. I would recite that to myself before every game right before the lights came on.
You shared tips with your competitors before games. What was the advice?
One of the contestants asked me what my buzzer strategy was, and I told them that I react to the sound [of Jennings finishing the clue] not the lights [that signal players to buzz in]. After that I made a point of telling other contestants that at the beginning of each day out of a sense of fair play.
You have credited your “sticky mind” for your success on the show. When did you first realize that you had a special aptitude for amassing knowledge?
I was showing off by, like, second grade. My friends would say, “Jamie’s a genius.” In the past people would tell me that I needed to be more humble. That’s something I try to achieve, but it’s not just about hiding myself. It’s because I also find show-offs annoying. I feel like I don’t show off as much these days. Well, except on “Jeopardy!”
Your parents are from China, and you were born in Australia and became a U.S. citizen in 2007. Do you have a different perspective on “Jeopardy!” as an immigrant ?
When you’re into trivia, you know facts about things that you haven’t actually experienced for yourself or you don’t really understand. Sometimes as an immigrant I feel that way. Like, I know what these things are, but how much do I understand them? Also, I didn’t really grow up watching “Jeopardy!” It’s a really fast-moving show, and if English is not your first language, like for my parents, then it’s quite hard to follow along.
During your run you had to come up with more than 30 personal anecdotes to tell Ken Jennings during the games. Any good ones you had on deck that you want to share now?
The contestant producer asked me to send in 10 before that last day. One was about how there were three students named Jamie Ding at Princeton one year, and I still get emails meant for them. Oh, and I’ve broken four cellos in my lifetime.
You work on affordable housing for the state of New Jersey, and in one of your in-game interviews you called out New York and Connecticut for not doing better on that. And recently news outlets reported that you were part of a lawsuit to block the Trump administration from accessing New Jersey voter rolls. How do you feel about the new spotlight on your private life and your politics?
It’s a mix. It’s not like I’ve been preparing to be famous. And there’s a potential that my life gets worse in some aspects. Maybe somebody who doesn’t like me will try to cause difficulty. But if I care about these things, I should have the courage to express them publicly.
Have any orange-related endorsement offers come your way? Has Wheaties or the citrus industry called?
No, not yet. But if they do I would have to fill out a bunch of paperwork with my job if I actually started collecting money from different entities. That raises some ethical questions.
You’re doing this interview from your car. Where were you coming from?
I had a day off from work, so I went to the library at Seton Hall [where Ding is enrolled in a weekend law program] to do some reading. I have finals in two weeks. My parents got me this car. It feels a little big, but they got a good deal on it and I wasn’t going to turn down a free car. They have been so supportive. You have no idea. Like, I’m still on their cellphone plan.
Seems like you’re now in a position to take over that bill.
I really should, yes.
This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
