| Ben Chan | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Birth Hometown: | Green Bay, Wisconsin |
| Occupation: | Philosophy professor |
| Known for: | Appearances on Jeopardy!. |
Ben Chan is a philosophy professor from Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Early Life[]
He was brought up in New York, and his parents emigrated from Hong Kong and Guangdong in the late 1960s. The parents are known to meet in New York City, started a restaurant business together, and since then, have settled in New York.
Talking about Ben Chan’s educational details, he is a graduate student with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania. He had his higher education- a Ph.D. from the University of California-Los Angeles. He later received his postdoc in the Department of Bioethics of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.
He has been working as a philosophy professor for nearly ten years. He has worked as a philosophy professor at St. Norbert College in De Pere since 2013.
Jeopardy! run[]
Regular-season play[]
He made his debut on Wednesday, April 12, 2023, and won in a runaway game despite dropping $7,000 on an early Daily Double. After winning the rest of the week (with all runaways) he was absent from the episode on April 17, which it was later revealed was a result of Ben catching COVID-19 and was unable to safely travel to California from Wisconsin. He returned again on May 15, 2023, and went up against 8-day co-champion Hannah Wilson, beating her quite handily - having accumulated a whopping $41,000 before Final Jeopardy was even played - despite not having played in a month and Hannah being an extremely strong player. He ran a nine-game streak, where he accumulated $252,600.
Ben’s strategy involves hunting for Daily Doubles being front and center; he did an excellent job controlling variance in his games, found 23 of the 27 Daily Doubles available during his run and got 18 of them correct. The hunting and buzzer prowess commonly elevates him into lock positions; he has only played one game where he was in danger of losing going into Final Jeopardy. He is also very strong in the Final round, only having missed two of the ten clues during his run. His game 10 loss to Lynn di Vito on May 23, 2023 was one of the most controversial rulings in the entirety of Season 39. Despite putting up a Coryat of $24,600 to Lynn’s $13,000, Lynn’s getting $3,000 on her Daily Double and Ben’s losing $7,200 on his two Daily Doubles meant that, for the first time in his run, he did not have a runaway, leading Lynn by only $2,600 ($17,400 to $14,800). The correct response to Final Jeopardy was the two Shakespeare characters Beatrice and Benedick; unfortunately for Ben, he misremembered the name of the latter and wrote down “Who are Beatrice and Benedict?” This dropped him into second place and made Lynn the new champion; despite Ben claiming that he was properly ruled incorrect on Reddit, that did not stop a good section of the community from going into a frenzy and demanding that he be invited back.
| Game No. | Air Date | Final score | Cumulative Winnings | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | April 12, 2023 | $16,001 | $16,001 | Ken Jennings era. |
| 2 | April 13, 2023 | $30,000 | $46,001 | |
| 3 | April 14, 2023 | $23,000 | $69,001 | After this game, Ben did not come back to defend for four weeks, due to illness. |
| 4 | May 15, 2023 | $60,000 | $129,001 | Mayim Bialik era. Ben ended Hannah Wilson's 8-game winning streak. |
| 5 | May 16, 2023 | $27,999 | $157,000 | Ben became the first player since Rick Knutsen to have runaway games in the first five games. |
| 6 | May 17, 2023 | $25,000 | $182,000 | Ben becomes the first player ever to have runaway games in the first six games. |
| 7 | May 18, 2023 | $31,000 | $213,000 | |
| 8 | May 19, 2023 | $14,800 | $227,800 | |
| 9 | May 22, 2023 | $24,800 | $252,600 | |
| 10 | May 23, 2023 | $5,199 | $254,600 | Ben's only nonrunaway game in regular-season play. Lost to Lynn di Vito. |
Tournament of Champions[]
In the eighth quarterfinal game, he faced off against Justin Bolsen and Emmett Stanton. Throughout the first two rounds, he came up with 28/29 correct responses (including 2/2 Daily Doubles). Emmett finished Double Jeopardy with -$2,000 and could not play Final Jeopardy. Both remaining players got Final incorrect. He advanced to the semifinals via runaway. Emmett and Justin took home $5,000.
In the first semifinal game, he faced off against Jared Watson and Ike Barinholtz.[1]. Throughout the first two rounds, he came up with 21/23 correct responses (including 1/1 Daily Double). No one got Final correct. He made a conservative wager and advanced to the finals. Jared and Ike took home $10,000.
In the finals, he faced off against Yogesh Raut and Troy Meyer in the finals. Throughout the finals (which lasted six games), he came up with 88/97 correct responses (including 3/4 Daily Doubles). He got every Final Jeopardy in the finals correct, but after losing to Yogesh, he received $100,000 first runner-up.
Invitational Tournament[]
In the eighth quarterfinal game, he faced off against Claire Sattler and Shane Whitlock. Throughout the first two rounds, he came up with 23/28 correct responses (including 0/2 Daily Doubles). Claire finished Double Jeopardy with $0, and could not play Final Jeopardy. He got Final incorrect, but after losing to Shane (in a come from behind win), he and Claire received $5,000.
Additional Pages[]
Trivia[]
- He is the first TOC qualifier since Mattea Roach to meet two MCs during his tenure.
- As mentioned above, it is the first time in 22 years since Rick that the champion has won 5 consecutive lockgames from the beginning. Even before the unlimited streak, Elise Beraru (1984), the second Chuck Forrest (1985), and the third Jonathan Groff (1995), Robin Carroll (2000), Rick Knutsen (2001), it is a rare record achieved by only 5 people. Based on first appearances, he currently holds the record for 7th consecutive runaway game with Chuck.[2]
- He is the fourth contestant to not to return after the next game. The first was Priscilla Ball, the second was Claudia Corriere, and the third was Zach Newkirk[3]. He also returned to the recording after being absent due to personal reasons without being defeated.
- He is the first 9-time champion in almost 7 years since Buzzy Cohen.
- Like Andrew He, the 5-time champion, there are many cases where he wins easily when he wins by a landslide, and when he doesn't, there are many cases where he wins narrowly. In particular, in the ToC finals, he won both the first and fourth games by a difference of $1.[4]
- He is the first champion to advance to the finals among three competitors in a row who advanced to ToC (including SC and CWC).
- If he had won the ToC, he would have broken the jinx of not having a winner among the three players who have advanced to the ToC consecutively.
- As Mayim Bialik left the show after S40, he became the last champion with 5 or more consecutive wins to face more than 2 MCs.
References[]
- ↑ For reference, these two are hidden talents who defeated Super Champions Cris Pannullo and Ray Lalonde in their respective Quarterfinal. The former even won in a runaway game.
- ↑ However, Chuck's 5th game is a lock-tie, and the ToC final is a runaway game in terms of total points.
- ↑ For reference, Priscilla and Zach won, and Claudia lost both.
- ↑ If Yogesh Raut had incorrected FJ in the third game, he could have won all three games by $1.