Ocracoke teacher Charles Temple has won the first-ever ‘Jeopardy’ The Teachers Tournament.
Temple won $100,000, as well as a guaranteed spot in the Tournament of Champions airing later this year.
The tournament began May 2, and three contestants competed for the top prize last night and tonight.
The 38-year-old Temple, who has always wanted to be a teacher, never imagined he’d earn this much money at once in his career.
“Winning the grand prize is surreal,” he said. “By no means did it ever occur to me that I’d have this much money in my life, but here it is… landing in my lap!”
To prepare for the competition, Temple practiced by playing online games and watching “Jeopardy!” whenever he could. He also studied some of his weaker subjects. “I was really hoping there wouldn’t be a category on architecture. I’m not so great with art history either,” he said.
Temple plans to use his winnings to pay off student loans and build some savings. “I’m also thinking about traveling, or maybe buying a house in this ridiculous real estate market,” he added.
Regarding his students’ reactions, Temple thinks they’ll be thrilled. He said, “Tonight’s game will air during prom, so we’ll all be together. By that time, the whole town will be buzzing!”
The whole town, according to the 2010 U.S. Census, has 948 residents.
Temple teaches at a school with only 150 students in grades kindergarten through grade 12, all housed on the same campus.
“I hope my win will give the kids in this small community a shot of inspiration,” he said. “I think they’ll get a sense of how far you can get if you set goals and work hard to get to them.”
Lori Kissell, a Latin teacher at Liberty High School from Fredericksburg, Va., placed second in the tournament and won $50,000. Third place winner Larry DeMoss, an English teacher at Edgewood High School from Ellettsville, Ind., took home $25,000. The two-week competition featured 15 of the nation’s top K-12 teachers.
“Jeopardy!,” the winner of 28 Emmy awards since its debut in 1984, was inducted into the Guinness Book of World Records for the most awards won by a TV Game Show. The series is the No. 1-rated quiz show in syndication with nearly 9 million daily viewers. “Jeopardy!” is produced by Sony Pictures Television, a Sony Pictures Entertainment Company. It is distributed domestically by CBS Television Distribution and internationally by CBS Television International, both units of CBS Corp.
The Island Free Press will publish an interview with Charles Temple tomorrow afternoon after the celebrations quiet down a bit.
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