Terre Haute native Harrison Whitaker wins in second ‘Jeopardy!’ appearance

If Harrison Whitaker was nervous in his “Jeopardy!” debut, which aired Tuesday night, those jitters didn’t reflect the show’s outcome.

Whitaker, a Terre Haute native, won $34,801 in Tuesday— his first day on the popular syndicated game show. The episodes were actually filmed last month in Culver City, Calif.

And his wining ways continued Wednesday evening on Night 2.

In an Oct. 29 interview, after the filming, Whitaker couldn’t reveal how well he performed but told the Tribune-Star, “The moment I stepped behind the podium, I was more nervous than I’ve ever been in my life. So, if I look a bit shaky and pale, I hope everybody forgives me.”

Nonethless, on Tuesday’s broadcast, Whiteaker rallied from a couple of early setbacks, including wagering and losing $3,800 — all of his earnings up to that point — with an incorrect response. In the first “Jeopardy!” round, he picked what was the “Daily Double” in a category called “The Rules of the Game,” a reference to the rules of popular games.

Whitaker’s clue read, “A player can make only one accusation during any one game.” He answered, “What is Mafia?” But the correct response was the game Clue.

Still, Whitaker came back from $0 and took the lead going into the “Final Jeopardy” question, and then he nailed it. He’d won $19,000 so far, narrowly ahead of previous champion Allegra Kuney’s $17,400 and further ahead of challenger Jessica Marshall’s $10,000.

In a “Final Jeopardy” category of “Romans,” Whitaker boldly wagered $15,801 as he faced the clue: “In a work likely written in the 1700s, this leader wondered what were ancient generals’ compared to Diogenes and Socrates?” He and Kuney both correctly answered “Who was Marcus Aurelius?” But his resulting total of $34,801 topped Kuney, who’d wagered $5,000 on “Final Jeopardy” and finished with $22,400.

Kuney had won four straight games and left with total earnings of $92,600.

On Wednesday

And Whitaker won again on the episode broadcast Wednesday evening, easily pulling away from his two new challengers through the Jeopardy and Double Jeopardy rounds.

He had $23,800 entering Final Jeopardy, more than triple his closest opponent and all but assuring he would win and stay another day.

Whitaker risked only $2,100 in Wednesday’s final, a business question: ‘A 2018 book about this company once valued at $9 billion was titled ‘Bad Blood.’ ” The answer was ‘Theranos.’ His correct answer brought his Wednesday total to $25,000 and his two-day earnings to $59,801.

Jeopardy! airs each evening in the Wabash Valley on WTWO-TV 2.

The 27-year-old Whitaker is a product of Lost Creek Elementary, Woodrow Wilson Middle School, Terre Haute North Vigo High School, New York University, Columbia University and Cambridge University.

He’s a freelance researcher who’s lived the past four years in England. He’s the son of former Indiana State University faculty members Todd and Beth Whitaker, who are now professors at the University of Missouri.