DE PERE, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – St. Norbert College Philosophy Professor Ben Chan made an appearance on “Jeopardy!” and won.
He won $16,001 and will be on the show again tonight.
“I never thought about what it would be like to win because I was really focused on having fun and preparing well, so it was kind of a relief/surprise but it was great,” says Chan.
That’s how Chan described his experience winning Wednesday’s round on “Jeopardy!”
St. Norbert students, staff, friends and family gathered to watch a familiar face compete on the show.
Chan says one of his inspirations for coming on the show was doing well in his online trivia league he joined last summer.
“When I joined, I did really well, and I was beating people that had been on ‘Jeopardy!’”
Students who have Professor Ben Chan say they knew he would do a good job and were proud to watch him on TV Wednesday night.
“He was supposed to be gone for one day, then came back two days later, and we were just like hmm… maybe something happened,” says student Jaden Young.
Young says his freshman class couldn’t believe it when he announced he’d be on the show.
“I was just excited for him. Honestly, like the kind of guy he is — he’s super smart, like I said he takes a different look at things — so just kind of seeing that I was like, you know, he’s going to do great.”
Chan says being a professor helped him, but he still had to study hard.
“Seventy five percent of what shows up isn’t going to be things you study. It’s things you just kind of have to know but then that other 25% really matters too and that you can study.”
Students admire that he goes beyond the classroom.
“I think it’s cool that he’s able to go out and do more than just teach a class, so I think that’s really cool,” says student Connor Hardy.
Chan highlighted the support he has received from the college on and off the show.
“In good times, the college has made my life so much better… and in bad times, they’ve been a source of amazing comfort.”
He says he has no plans to quit his day job after winning this round but will be spending some extra money on his pets.
“We have two rescue dogs, and the dogs will be getting the finest treats.”
You can watch tonight’s episode and see how the professor does at 6 on FOX 11.
