| Brandon Blackwell | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Name: | Brandon Blackwell |
| Born: | September 2, 1982 |
| Birth Hometown: | Holliswood, New York |
| Known for: | "The Lightning Bolt" on The Chase |
Brandon Blackwell, also known as The Lightning Bolt, is a competitive trivia player, known for his appearances on The Chase as a Chaser.
Early Life[]
He was born in Queens, New York, where he goofed off in school for most of his childhood and early teen years yet spent all his spare time reading and learning anyway. He also grew up watching game shows, so it wasn't long before he decided to have a crack at it himself, culminating with a win on "Million Second Quiz" worth more than a third of $1 million. Blackwell had appeared on three different quiz shows and won almost $400,000 by the time he turned 20. In 2014, Blackwell decided to start quizzing seriously and joined the American circuit. In 2016, he made his debut internationally at the Quiz Olympiad in Athens and won two medals, including a gold in the world speedquizzing discipline.
In 2017, Blackwell left the American trivia scene for good to train in the UK, where he played for some of the top quiz clubs in the world. In addition to two fourth-place finishes in the British Quizzing Championship pairs competition, he has won multiple London Open medals and a President's Cup in the Quiz League of London. Perhaps most notoriously, Blackwell was a champion on and is one of the highest-scoring players of all-time on "University Challenge," a well-known British quiz show that many say "makes 'Jeopardy!' look like a walk in the park." Blackwell is still a regular in high-level quiz competitions outside the U.S., finishing second overall in the Under-30 World Quizzing Championships in 2020 and 38th overall in the World Quizzing Championships in 2021. He currently plays for one of the highest-ranked quiz teams in the world – a team whose star player is none other than fellow Chaser Victoria Groce.
He became the first American chaser to join the Australian version in late 2023. Though, Brandon was actually going to initially join the Australian version in 2020 (before joining the American version in 2022), but couldn't during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Jeopardy![]
Teen Tournament[]
In the second quarterfinal game, he faced Casey Clough and Bradley Silverman. He gave fourteen right responses and no wrong responses. Everyone got Final correct. He and Bradley advanced to the semifinals. Casey's $1,600 wasn't high enough, eliminating her from the tournament.
In the first semifinal game, he faced the wildcards, Ben Chuchla and Audrey Hosford. He gave sixteen correct responses and three wrong responses (after he found all the DDs). He and Audrey got Final wrong. Audrey's runaway advanced her to the finals. He and Ben took home $10,000.
Invitational Tournament[]
In the sixth quarterfinal game, he faced against 6-time champion, 2015 Toc winner and 2019 All-Star Games member of wildcard-match third-place Alex Jacob and 8-time champion and 2021 Toc first runner-up Jennifer Quail. He gave twenty right responses (including two DDs) and only one wrong. He and Alex did not get Final right and took home $5,000.
The Chase[]
He started appearing on The Chase in season 3, alongside Brad Rutter, James Holzhauer, Buzzy Cohen, and Victoria Groce. His nickname is The Lightning Bolt.
He is a Chaser who appears in the third season of the American version of The Chase on ABC. He is the first Chaser to appear in the season (May 3, 2022). On that day, he caught a target of 15 in the Final Chase with 24 seconds remaining, denying the team of three a $190,000 payout.
He is statistically the weakest chaser in Season 3, losing to 3 out of 4 final chases that season, 2 with 14 steps, and 1 against a Lazarus player with the most wrong answers (11).