Professor to Compete on ‘Jeopardy!’ Tournament of Champions

Andrew Pau, associate professor of music theory, will make his return to national television as a contestant on Jeopardy!’s Tournament of Champions at 7:30pm Friday, November 10, on CBS Cleveland. The contestant field is made up of the 11 players who won the greatest number of games since the last tournament in November 2015.

Pau first appeared on the show in April 2016 during season 32, winning six games and coming home with $170,202. After Pau’s five-day winning streak, the show produced a highlight reel of his correct answers.

After such a lengthy hiatus, Pau admits that the anticipation of the event had been building for some time. “My friends and family had been asking me ‘when’s it going to be?’ for the longest time, so it was nice to finally get to do it,” says Pau.

To prepare for the tournament, Pau played games in different categories on Sporcle, a trivia website. “But mostly, I really just trusted myself to know stuff,” says Pau. “One gets so busy with teaching at Oberlin that there isn’t a lot of time to do much additional preparation.”