An Arlington journalist starred on “Jeopardy!” last week, winning one night and earning over $14,000.
Susan Stumme, a senior editor at the news agency Agence France-Presse, ended Thursday night on top with a $12,600 win.
She went on to run the category of “shoe biz” on Friday, but lost big when she swung and missed in a “Final Jeopardy!” question about an Italian explorer.
“It was such an amazing experience,” Stumme told ARLnow. “I’ve been watching ‘Jeopardy!’ since I was a kid in the 80s, so you know, to actually get there was kind of enough.”
Stumme partly credits her trivia triumph to her 25 years of experience in journalism, which took her to cities around the world before she settled down in Courthouse. Her deep knowledge of shoes, for instance, comes from her background as a fashion reporter in Paris and Milan.
“People are kind of laughing about that, like, ‘Oh, you must love shoes,'” Stumme said. “I’m like, I kind of hate shoes.”
The game show’s episodes were actually filmed a few weeks ago, and until last week only a handful of people knew their outcome. Stumme said it was sometimes difficult to keep the results a secret from an office of 50 curious journalists.
When the episodes finally aired, however, she said they offered a welcome reprieve from a hectic election week at work.
“It was a wild week in our office,” Stumme told ARLnow. “I was up all night working on election results, had a bit of a rest, and then we had a big watch party.”
She recalled describing the concept of the show to international colleagues, and listening to coworkers shouting out answers last week.
“It’s been fun, explaining it to them, hearing their reaction — and of course, in a room full of smarty-pants journalists, as we were watching, they’re all like, ‘How did you not get that?'” she said.
Stumme, who regularly watches “Jeopardy!” with her husband, said remembering trivia “is very easy from the couch.” Buzzing in answers in front of a film crew and host Ken Jennings, however, is a different matter.
“You don’t have a lot of time catch your breath and figure it out, so it’s kind of stressful,” Stumme said. “But at the same time, once you’re there, you’re sort of like, ‘Well, this is my one minute of fame.'”
While Stumme entered her second “Final Jeopardy!” round tied for the lead, she ended Friday night with $0 on her board after misattributing a quote by navigator Amerigo Vespucci. She still earned a $2,000 consolation prize, adding to her first night’s winnings.
Following her TV appearance, Stumme said old friends have “come out of the woodwork” — and one stranger even approached her at Brooklyn Bagel this weekend to offer congratulations.
Stumme said she enjoyed her brief TV stardom and continues to be a fan of the show.
“Even now I’m sort of like, holy crap, I won ‘Jeopardy!’,” she said.
In other “Jeopardy!”-related news, the City of Falls Church made an appearance on the game show last night (Wednesday), earning a shoutout from Virginia state Sen. Saddam Salim (D-37).
The Little City (@FallsChurchGov) made an appearance on Jeopardy last night! 👏 👏 👏 pic.twitter.com/C6iPX70wi3
— Senator Saddam Azlan Salim (@SalimVASenate) November 14, 2024
