Syosset High School Social Studies teacher Daniel Wohl appeared as a contestant on Jeopardy! on Wednesday, February 8.
(Photo courtesy Jeopardy!)
Wohl began applying more than two years ago.
When asked on the application why he loves the 30-minute game show, Wohl wrote, “Each episode feels like a tiny microcosm of the world as it should be—a world where intelligence is rewarded, where curiosity is valued, and where knowledge is celebrated.”
About 100,000 people apply every year to be on the show, and only 400 are chosen to compete.
“The opportunity to compete on Jeopardy! is the fulfillment of a lifelong personal goal,” Wohl said. “I believe my appearance also reflects Syosset’s mission of cultivating intellectual potential and inspiring a lifetime of learning.”
In his first year as a Syosset teacher, the senior class voted Wohl “most likely to win Jeopardy!
And he certainly was a winner. He took home $26,799 and returned the following night as a defending champion.
Gold Coast Living reached out to Wohl to hear all about his experience on the show.
Gold Coast Living: “What inspired you to go on Jeopardy!?”
Wohl: “I’ve always enjoyed trivia, Trivial Pursuit, bar trivias, that kind of thing. As a matter of fact, I wrote and hosted several bar trivias myself in Manhattan and Brooklyn over the years. I guess I’d say I enjoy it because I enjoy the idea of knowledge being valued and celebrated. Sometimes my students ask me how I first started to get good at trivia and I always tell them that I haven’t spent a second of my life working on it directly. I just like to read, learn, and spend hours going on unplanned odysseys through the heretofore-to-me-uncharted wilds of Wikipedia.”
Gold Coast Living: “What was the experience like on the show?”
Wohl: “They shoot five episodes a day so basically all the contestants are waiting anxiously in the ‘green room’ to see when we will be randomly chosen to go on. Our ‘green room,’ was the Wheel of Fortune set! Once the game actually started, it was interesting to see how the actual gameplay experience is not quite as quick and tight as it appears on TV. Lines are flubbed, the producers have to redo certain parts, and there were even a few times when they had to pause the game completely while the judges discussed whether this or that answer was acceptable.”
Gold Coast Living: “Have you ever been on a set before? Was seeing all the cameras and lights intimidating?”
Wohl: “Jeopardy! was not the first game show I’ve appeared on—I was also on Cash Cab. It was not my first time on a TV set, though definitely the longest, most intense, and most legendary one. It’s hard not to be at least a little bit intimidated by the popularity of the show. Once I was up there, I think adrenaline just totally took over. I didn’t feel like I even had the mental bandwidth to feel anxiety at the time.”
Gold Coast Living: “Were you excited to win the first game? Was it challenging?”
Wohl: “I was so happy to win the first game. I’m sure I wouldn’t have admitted it to myself beforehand, but it would have been very disappointing to walk off the set not being able to say for the rest of my life that I’m a Jeopardy! champion! It was challenging for sure, especially since I was playing against such a tough competitor in Matthew Marcus, who had already been on a four-game win streak. Knowing that I was facing someone of that caliber is part of what led me to go for such a big true Daily Double.”
Gold Coast Living: “What has been the feedback you received from the community?”
Wohl: “Everyone at Syosset has been incredibly supportive. My department colleagues organized a surprise send-off party for me before I went to the taping, and I was so touched by the palpable excitement my students reacted with when I first told them. Once the news broke school-wide on the video announcements the Friday before my appearance, walking anywhere in the school was quite an amazing experience, because it felt like every second a student or staff member I had never met before were congratulating me. I felt very gratified and deeply appreciative.”