| Eddie Timanus | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Name: | Eddie Timanus |
| Born: | August 9, 1968 |
| Birth Hometown: | St. Joseph, Missouri |
| Occupation: | Contestant |
| Years active: | 1999-present |
| Known for: | Making a game show appearance despite his total blindness |
Eddie Timanus (born August 9, 1968) was a game show contestant. He is best remembered for being on Jeopardy! for his big wins. He is also the first ever blind contestant to ever win consecutive games.
Jeopardy! Run[]
In 1999, Timanus appeared on Jeopardy! He used a computer keyboard to write his name and the answers and wagers during Final Jeopardy! and the crew made him use the Braille version of the categories printed on a card. In total, he won $69,700 which also included a pair of cars. He also participated in the 2000 Tournament of Champions and would later go on to appear in the 2002 Million Dollar Masters, the 2005 Ultimate Tournament of Champions, and the 2014 Battle of the Decades. When he appeared in the Ultimate Tournament of Champions and Battle of the Decades, in addition to the Braille card for the categories and the computer keyboard for typing his Final Jeopardy! response and wager, there was also an audible bell that is in sync with a light border surrounding the game board that lights up, indicating that the question ends and should he hear it, he can buzz in anytime at that point.
On all of his appearances, due to his blindness, no video-based clues were done.
Other appearances[]
Eddie Timanus was also a contestant on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? in 2004 where he won $50,000. When he used the Phone-a-Friend lifeline, host Meredith Vieira would read the question and the four choices to the friend that he chose to call and would also remind him how much time was remaining on the 30 seconds used for that lifeline.
Cumulative Total[]
Out of all the money he won on his game show appearances, Timanus won a grand total of $124,700.
Personal Life[]
Timanus was born in St. Joseph, Missouri to a sportscaster father named Chuck and an administrative assistant mother named Terri. At the age of three, Timanus went blind after going through an operation to remove tumors from his eyes, primarily caused by retinoblastoma, an eye cancer that begins in the retina. By age six, Timanus and his father went to sporting events more often and eventually became a statistician by age eleven. In 1990, Timanus graduated from Wake Forest University with a degree in economics. He then became a sportswriter for USA Today.