Ocracoke high school English teacher will play in the first round of the “Jeopardy!” Tournament of Champions on the show’s first night, Wednesday, Nov. 2.
“Jeopardy!” is reuniting 15 of its recent champions for a head-to-head competition for a chance to win $250,000. The 2011 Tournament of Champions will feature the show’s recent highest money earners. Temple won the “Jeopardy!” Teachers Tournament in May.
Temple’s competitors include Brian Meacham, Film Preservationist, Anchorage, Alaska; Buddy Wright, Operations Engineer, Fort Worth, Texas; Christopher Short, Editor of Trivia Games, Crawfordsville, Ind.; Erin McLean, Junior at Boston University, Danvers, Mass.; Jay Rhee, Oncologist, Annapolis, Md.; John Krizel, Writer, Oceanside, N.Y.; Joon Pahk, Physics Teacher at Harvard University, Somerville, Mass.; Justin Sausville, Urologist, Baltimore, Md.; Kara Spak, Reporter at the Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago, Ill.; Mark Runsvold, Student and Waiter, Moscow, Idaho; Paul Kursky, Online Marketing Producer, San Francisco, Calif.; Roger Craig, Computer Scientist, Newark, Del.; Tom Kunzen, Geotechnical Engineer, Orlando, Fla.; and Tom Nissley, Writer, Seattle, Wash.
The second place winner will earn a minimum of $100,000 and third place $50,000. Semifinalists receive $10,000, and contestants eliminated in the first round receive $5,000.
Since 1985, more than 300 contestants have competed in the tournament, with nearly $5.4 million in cash prizes awarded to the participating players. The featured champs for the upcoming 2011 Tournament of Champions have accumulated more than $1.9 million in cash prizes in their initial appearances on the show.
The first round is Wednesday through Friday and Monday and Tuesday — Nov. 2, 3, 4, 7 and 8. The semi-finals are Wednesday through Friday, Nov. 9-11, and the finals are Monday and Tuesday, Nov. 14 and 15.
If Temple wins his first round, he will go on to play in the semi-finals.
The shows were filmed in September in Los Angeles, but Temple is contractually bound not to reveal the outcome of the tournament, nor could he say how many of the 10 total games he played in.
On Ocracoke, Gaffer’s Sport Pub will host a party to watch Temple play on Wednesday night.
