On Oct. 3, "Jeopardy!" published this video on YouTube, showing how an eccentric bartender from New York City, Austin Rogers, made it to his first five wins. As of Oct. 6, Rogers had collected eight wins. (Courtesy of Jeopardy Productions, Inc.)
It’s been quite a week for Austin Rogers.
The New York City bartender has had an impressive nine-day winning streak on “Jeopardy!,” the trivia game show, raking in $332,400 in prize money. He has won out over a prosecutor, an English teacher, a journalist, a library director and an editor.
“This was a really hard game….Tough ones,” he wrote on Twitter about Friday’s nail-biting episode, which at one point had him a distant second, behind fellow contestant Diana McInnis.
Rogers has become a viral Internet sensation, developing a fan base that swoons over his hilarious style, alongside vocal haters who just can’t seem to stand the sight of him.
“He’s got hair; he’s got chutzpah. He’s got broad-based knowledge,” “Jeopardy!” host Alex Trebek says.
But some are also debating: Is Rogers “a lovable weirdo or an obnoxious child?”
On Twitter, he has his own trending hashtag: #austinonjeopardy. Rogers also live-tweets the shows, which were taped in April.
I admit, I did not think #AustinRogers was winning this one, it looked grim. I underestimated the awesomeness. #jeopardy #austinonjeopardy pic.twitter.com/rroI9wtdOc — Al C. Junior (@OfficialMisterC) October 5, 2017
Part of the reason for Rogers’s popularity — aside from his winning streak — is that he is just so . . . quirky.
Austin's win gives him an 8-day total of $306,900. He is now #5 on the regular season all-time money winners list! https://t.co/2H4xpCgezv pic.twitter.com/37aedZ6u21 — Jeopardy! (@Jeopardy) October 6, 2017
On the show, he plays with joy and confidence.
He bets big — and wins big.
ICYMI: Austin locked up his sixth win in a row with this massive wager. pic.twitter.com/4kF9A5y6ZJ — Jeopardy! (@Jeopardy) October 4, 2017
He has goofy, dramatic hand gestures, sometimes punching his arm across his chest when he answers correctly.
It takes confidence to become a Jeopardy! champion. Looks like Austin has all the chutzpah he needs. How long do you think his run will go? pic.twitter.com/a8Po0RPX9K — Jeopardy! (@Jeopardy) October 3, 2017
And he has a distinctive mop of hair with a bushy beard to match, making him “both unkempt and natty by the show’s drab standards,” as Vulture put it.
He’s a bit like a delightful cross between Willy Wonka and a wacky Hogwarts professor. Or maybe a cross between the actor Zach Galifianakis and Martin Prince, the stereotypical nerd and teacher’s pet in “The Simpsons,” as the A.V. Club put it.
But those who dislike him think he’s awkward, arrogant and even casually racist for a joke he allegedly made about the Dalai Lama.
And all this attention doesn’t faze him.
There are two types of people in this world: people that like #austinonjeopardy and people that don’t matter. — Jay Bennett (@JayBennay) Sept. 29
Movement to boycott jeopardy until Austin Rogers is off the show — Becca Brown (@Bex531) Oct. 2
“It’s been overwhelmingly positive, and I take the Haterade with a grain of salt,” Rogers told the Wrap.
So, what is his secret to winning?
Partly, he’s been watching “Jeopardy!” since he was a kid. And to prepare for his debut, he found ways to watch “hundreds upon hundreds” of “Jeopardy!” episodes, despite not having a TV, he told “Good Morning America” on Thursday.
He also had low expectations, which probably helps to keep stress levels low.
“I set myself a goal of two wins,” Rogers told “Jeopardy!” “I sort of exceeded that expectation.”
And Rogers has a vast, generalist body of knowledge, along with an unquenchable curiosity.
“I guess I got a good learning regimen from college, but the specific information utilized in answering correctly is mostly from my extracurricular reading, documentary watching and general nerdery,” he told “Jeopardy!”
“If I don’t know something, I’ll go out of my way to try and find it out,” he added.
Also important, he told “Good Morning America,” is looking for patterns and clues in the game.
“I’m not going to say there’s a system or a code, but if you watch enough, you’ll start seeing things repeat,” he said. “Like if it ever says ‘sculptor,’ it’s probably going to be Auguste Rodin. If it ever says, ‘American sculptor,’ it’ll probably be Alexander Calder. If it ever says Romanian poet, it’ll be Enasescu.”
And then there’s just the plain old smarts, which Rogers attributes to three things: “Genetics. Luck. Karma.”
As for what he’ll do with his winnings, Rogers has given different answers.
“I realize what an opportunity I’ve been given,” he told the Journal News in New York. “The money ($306,900 to date) is irrelevant. The opportunity is huge. I am working on tying up all the tax implications and creating a sensible investment structure; it will build the foundation for a larger empire!”
But on “Good Morning America,” he deadpanned that he would buy municipal bonds and a BMW.
Either way, his wacky theatrics are likely to be out in full force.
Q: Their job is to stump you. Who are they? A: Trivia writers, of course.
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ecrone on October 7th, 2017 at 16:13 UTC »
I like him. Makes things a little more interesting. Although he is kinda like that one friend we all have that has a really big personality but isn’t actually very funny.
Ronocm13 on October 7th, 2017 at 15:47 UTC »
I saw the tail end of an episode this week where it was him miming opening a bottle of wine and sipping it.
SuitedPair on October 7th, 2017 at 14:43 UTC »
He's like that relative who's really smart, but is constantly sabotaging themselves in their professional and personal life because they have zero filter.
This is for you, cousin Alice.