Inside a Jersey guy's historic ‘Jeopardy!' run — and what he's buying with his winnings
Little did he know he'd go on to put his name in the game show's record books, as one of the winningest 'Jeopardy!' contestants ever.
The engineer and Rutgers University graduate began his 16-game winning streak on July 3, earning $455,000 in winnings and securing the No. 8 spot on the regular-season earnings list. His 16 wins earned him a place on the 'Leaderboard of Champions,' tied for tenth with previous winner Ryan Long.
In a recent interview with NJ Advance Media, Riccardi, 26, recalled the highs and lows of rewatching his historic run.
'The interview portions are probably the toughest for me to rewatch because you're just so nervous and it's difficult to suddenly have to be yourself for 30 seconds to a minute in the middle of this intense trivia where you're just really trying to focus,' said Riccardi. 'It was really fun to relive all this, considering that I had a hazy memory of exactly how things played out for the most part. It's one of the biggest experiences of your life, but the intensity is so overwhelming that you often find yourself forgetting some of the smaller details.'
In terms of strategy, Riccardi stuck to the principles of betting big and answering first. He explained that during the competition, it's a game of timing; hearing the clues and buzzing in, even if the answer didn't come to him immediately. His plan worked for the most part: There were very few points during his streak where Riccardi didn't have the answer or ran out of time on a question.
'I would say a good 80% of the time it's just a sense of me knowing the answer and trying to get in first, hoping to get the rebound if someone else gets it wrong,' said Riccardi. 'I think there are quite a few examples looking back at that run where it feels like there are two really convincing possible answers for something. In many cases, I just waited for someone else to get in and hopefully eliminate one of those wrong choices for me.'
Riccardi will be back to compete in the Season 41 Tournament of Champions in January (with an airdate to still be determined). To qualify, a contestant must win five consecutive games during the regular season. In terms of preparation, he is sticking to the plan that got him in the winner's circle 16 times before.
'I'm honestly treating prep for this just the way I was for the regular show,' said Riccardi. 'I'm continuing to work on identifying any blind spots and differentiating between things that are easy to mix up.'
What does Riccardi plan to buy with a portion of those winnings? It turns out he's a long-time percussionist, so purchasing a marimba is in his future.
'I've had a few marimba companies message me directly as soon as it was mentioned on the show, which was really surreal,' said Riccardi. The main thing is logistics because they're so big and hard to move around. Once I've got a good space situation figured out for it, it'd be cool to have a nice five-octave marimba and vibraphone while I'm at it.'
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Murjani Rawls may be reached at mrawls@njadvancemedia.com
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