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Drew Goins a name that may be familiar for those who watch Jeopardy! is notable for his dedication, persistence and unique path on the show. He first drew attention after a unique flub and he continued on to take a different route on the path of success.
Goins’ journey on the game show Jeopardy! began as a fan who grew up watching and playing games based on the show. This love of Trivia finally propelled him onto the program when his original show taped in September and aired in November. Though he did not win his first time the event inspired him for more.
He stated that when he went on he was nervous and star struck to meet Ken Jennings. His passion for trivia helped him to do as well as he could even though that wasn't his first win but that all changed when his opportunity to redeem himself came about . His experience, though challenging gave the chance to take his learnings to come back better.
Drew's passion for Trivia and his unique flub on his original program created the perfect path to take part in Jeopardy’s Second Chance Tournament. This is an opportunity for those that didn't have a prior win on the show, allowing players like Drew another opportunity to advance. His appearance on the show highlighted redemption by a player with an unusual way to victory.
The first game back in this second series he performed well with consistent wins of daily double options. He also had a commanding lead going into the final round, ultimately succeeding with a winning outcome of $20,401 with an answer for the question “What is the Homestead Act?".
Drew continued on during the Thursday episode. It was a challenging day and while he showed off his skills with 15 correct answers that was not enough to take an actual lead leaving him with $1,700 for the game. Even though he also answered the final question correct he had the lowest dollar value leaving him losing the battle at $3,400 with “What is a rhesus monkey?”
Goins credits a strategy of both learning the basics along with taking unique approaches to how he studies the information needed for Jeopardy. He studied cultural references, areas of arts and various history points for his first opportunity and when he had another option he wanted to study areas that he didn't understand previously.
The “Jeopardy” super champion, James Holzhauer encouraged studying from children’s encyclopedia and atlases, as this created a different way for the mind to obtain knowledge. He stated that top information is often shown in those books with added detail that makes recall easier to navigate during a challenge.
Drew mentioned that during the second time he prepped, he made sure he was up to date with the basics but then decided to explore more areas. He included movie history, pop culture before his time, older styles of television and music to give a better understanding to a variety of possible questions. He had a unique moment on screen where after flubbing a question related to Taylor Swift on his first show he came back strong with knowledge that would make his previous errors disappear. He wanted to “repair his reputation” so he dove more into that material during training as well.
Goins’ appearance during this episode provided a sense of a “comeback kid”. It has given those who follow Jeopardy! an inspirational moment of making your own personal flaws into areas of your new successes which propelled him to become a "Jeopardy!" champion. His love of Trivia and what it stands for has shown that passion with consistent dedication can have very good rewards.
Goins had an opportunity to make good on his previous failure by answering correctly a Taylor Swift related question . This was considered “redemption” for him especially since it took place right after he explained his previous embarrassment from his previous flub. That win and performance allowed the crowd and himself to shake off that prior moment to create something fun.
Goins had watch parties with friends and family as the episodes aired. These intimate moments allowed loved ones a space to cheer and react with great fun and excitement which may have added some catharsis for past worries and now creating moments of shared success.