Roger Craig (Jeopardy! contestant)
Encyclopedia
Roger Alan Craig is an American
game show
contestant who holds the all-time record for single-day winnings on the quiz show
Jeopardy!
In 2011, Craig returned to Jeopardy, winning the Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions
.
and grew up in that state and in Virginia
, where he graduated from Annandale High School
.
He holds an undergraduate degree in biology and biochemistry
from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
, and a master's degree
and Ph.D.
in computer science from the University of Delaware
. He was working on his doctorate at the time of his first appearance on Jeopardy!, and completed the degree later in 2010. In his scholarly career, he has published eight papers in the field of bioinformatics
, specifically on topics of combinatorial protein synthesis and protein-protein prediction. As of November 2011, he was living in Newark, Delaware
, and working as a computer scientist.
program Anki
for memorization and tested himself using his own program.
Craig played quiz bowl as a student at both Virginia Tech and the University of Delaware. Before his Jeopardy appearances, he played numerous Jeopardy scrimmage matches against his friends with quiz bowl experience.
He believes that his attendance at the two universities helped the most in his success:
.
Craig lost to North Carolina sportswriter Jelisa Castrodale in his seventh appearance. He had the lead going into the Final Jeopardy round, in the category "Sports and Media." Castrodale won when she gave the correct response to the Final Jeopardy question about the winner of the 2010 Super Bowl, while Craig gave an incorrect response. In his seven-day run, Craig earned $231,200, $230,200 of which were from winning episodes.
This total is the fourth-highest amount of money won non-tournament on the show, ranking Craig behind Jennings, David Madden, and Tom Nissley. As was the case with Jennings and with Madden, the person who defeated Craig (Castrodale) finished in third place the subsequent day.
In 2011, Craig returned for the Tournament of Champions, which aired in November 2011. In the semi-final match, described as "a bloody, epic, inter-planetary death match... the Jeopardy! equivalent of a title-unification fight", Craig beat Joon Pahk and Mark Runsvold, the sixth and tenth regular-play all-time money winners on Jeopardy!
On the first night of the two-day finals, he became the first player in the history of the show to uncover two Daily Double items in succession, wager all of his money on both, and win both times. When he hit the first of his back-to-back Daily Doubles, he wagered his entire pot of $9,000, winning when he correctly identified Anne Brontë
as the pseudonymous author of the 1847 book Agnes Grey
. After switching categories and uncovering the second daily double he wagered his entire pot of $18,000, winning when he correctly responded "What is Suriname?" after being given the clue "Although Dutch is the official language, Sranan Tongo is spoken by most people in this South American country." His $18,000 win is thought be the largest single Daily Double prize in the show's history.
Craig went on to win the tournament. In the finals he defeated Tom Nissley, the show's third highest all-time non-tournament money winner, and Buddy Wright to win the $250,000 tournament prize.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
game show
Game show
A game show is a type of radio or television program in which members of the public, television personalities or celebrities, sometimes as part of a team, play a game which involves answering questions or solving puzzles usually for money and/or prizes...
contestant who holds the all-time record for single-day winnings on the quiz show
Game show
A game show is a type of radio or television program in which members of the public, television personalities or celebrities, sometimes as part of a team, play a game which involves answering questions or solving puzzles usually for money and/or prizes...
Jeopardy!
Jeopardy!
Griffin's first conception of the game used a board comprising ten categories with ten clues each, but after finding that this board could not be shown on camera easily, he reduced it to two rounds of thirty clues each, with five clues in each of six categories...
In 2011, Craig returned to Jeopardy, winning the Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions
Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions
The Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions is an annual tournament featuring the longest-running champions from the past season or seasons of the TV quiz show Jeopardy! The tournament began in the show's first season in 1964 during Art Fleming's tenure as host, and continued into the Alex Trebek era of...
.
Early life and non-game-show career
Craig, who was 33 years old at the time of his initial Jeopardy! appearance in 2010, is a native of PennsylvaniaPennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
and grew up in that state and in Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
, where he graduated from Annandale High School
Annandale High School
Annandale High School is an International Baccalaureate high school in Annandale, Virginia, United States. It is part of the Fairfax County Public Schools system....
.
He holds an undergraduate degree in biology and biochemistry
Biochemistry
Biochemistry, sometimes called biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes in living organisms, including, but not limited to, living matter. Biochemistry governs all living organisms and living processes...
from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, popularly known as Virginia Tech , is a public land-grant university with the main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia with other research and educational centers throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States, and internationally.Founded in...
, and a master's degree
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
and Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
in computer science from the University of Delaware
University of Delaware
The university is organized into seven colleges:* College of Agriculture and Natural Resources* College of Arts and Sciences* Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics* College of Earth, Ocean and Environment* College of Education and Human Development...
. He was working on his doctorate at the time of his first appearance on Jeopardy!, and completed the degree later in 2010. In his scholarly career, he has published eight papers in the field of bioinformatics
Bioinformatics
Bioinformatics is the application of computer science and information technology to the field of biology and medicine. Bioinformatics deals with algorithms, databases and information systems, web technologies, artificial intelligence and soft computing, information and computation theory, software...
, specifically on topics of combinatorial protein synthesis and protein-protein prediction. As of November 2011, he was living in Newark, Delaware
Newark, Delaware
Newark is an American city in New Castle County, Delaware, west-southwest of Wilmington. According to the 2010 Census, the population of the city is 31,454. Newark is the home of the University of Delaware.- History :...
, and working as a computer scientist.
Preparation
Craig prepared for Jeopardy! by studying the online archive of past questions maintained on the J! Archive website. Using data-mining and text-clustering, he identified the topics most likely to occur in game questions, then used the spaced repetitionSpaced repetition
Spaced repetition is a learning technique that incorporates increasing intervals of time between subsequent review of previously learned material; this exploits the psychological spacing effect...
program Anki
Anki
Anki is a spaced repetition flashcard program. The software is similar to SuperMemo, a commercial product for the same purpose, and Mnemosyne, another free flashcard program. Anki is the Japanese word for "memorizing"....
for memorization and tested himself using his own program.
Craig played quiz bowl as a student at both Virginia Tech and the University of Delaware. Before his Jeopardy appearances, he played numerous Jeopardy scrimmage matches against his friends with quiz bowl experience.
He believes that his attendance at the two universities helped the most in his success:
Let's face it, for Jeopardy!, the name of the game is breadth not depth. I think the main reason both universities helped so much is that they cover just about all spheres of learning in extraordinary depth.
Appearances on Jeopardy!
Craig set his record of $77,000 on the second day of the 2010-2011 Jeopardy! season on the episode airing September 14, 2010. In his record-setting appearance, he had a score of $47,000 after the game's first two rounds, then wagered and won $30,000 in the Final Jeopardy! round. Prior to Craig's mark, the single-day record of $75,000 was held by Ken JenningsKen Jennings
Kenneth Wayne "Ken" Jennings III is an American game show contestant and author. Jennings is noted for holding the record for the longest winning streak on the U.S. syndicated game show Jeopardy! and as being the all-time leading money winner on American game shows...
.
Craig lost to North Carolina sportswriter Jelisa Castrodale in his seventh appearance. He had the lead going into the Final Jeopardy round, in the category "Sports and Media." Castrodale won when she gave the correct response to the Final Jeopardy question about the winner of the 2010 Super Bowl, while Craig gave an incorrect response. In his seven-day run, Craig earned $231,200, $230,200 of which were from winning episodes.
This total is the fourth-highest amount of money won non-tournament on the show, ranking Craig behind Jennings, David Madden, and Tom Nissley. As was the case with Jennings and with Madden, the person who defeated Craig (Castrodale) finished in third place the subsequent day.
In 2011, Craig returned for the Tournament of Champions, which aired in November 2011. In the semi-final match, described as "a bloody, epic, inter-planetary death match... the Jeopardy! equivalent of a title-unification fight", Craig beat Joon Pahk and Mark Runsvold, the sixth and tenth regular-play all-time money winners on Jeopardy!
On the first night of the two-day finals, he became the first player in the history of the show to uncover two Daily Double items in succession, wager all of his money on both, and win both times. When he hit the first of his back-to-back Daily Doubles, he wagered his entire pot of $9,000, winning when he correctly identified Anne Brontë
Anne Brontë
Anne Brontë was a British novelist and poet, the youngest member of the Brontë literary family.The daughter of a poor Irish clergyman in the Church of England, Anne Brontë lived most of her life with her family at the parish of Haworth on the Yorkshire moors. For a couple of years she went to a...
as the pseudonymous author of the 1847 book Agnes Grey
Agnes Grey
Agnes Grey is the debut novel of English author Anne Brontë, first published in December 1847, and republished in a second edition in 1850. The novel follows Agnes Grey, a governess, as she works in several bourgeois families. Scholarship and comments by Anne's sister Charlotte Brontë suggest the...
. After switching categories and uncovering the second daily double he wagered his entire pot of $18,000, winning when he correctly responded "What is Suriname?" after being given the clue "Although Dutch is the official language, Sranan Tongo is spoken by most people in this South American country." His $18,000 win is thought be the largest single Daily Double prize in the show's history.
Craig went on to win the tournament. In the finals he defeated Tom Nissley, the show's third highest all-time non-tournament money winner, and Buddy Wright to win the $250,000 tournament prize.
Records
During his Jeopardy! appearances, Craig set the following records:| Description | Current record |
|---|---|
| Highest 5-game total on Jeopardy! Jeopardy! Griffin's first conception of the game used a board comprising ten categories with ten clues each, but after finding that this board could not be shown on camera easily, he reduced it to two rounds of thirty clues each, with five clues in each of six categories... , first 5 games (unadjusted) |
$195,801 |
| Highest single-game total on Jeopardy! Jeopardy! Griffin's first conception of the game used a board comprising ten categories with ten clues each, but after finding that this board could not be shown on camera easily, he reduced it to two rounds of thirty clues each, with five clues in each of six categories... |
$77,000 (September 14, 2010) |
| Largest daily double Daily double For the game show wager, see Jeopardy!A daily double is a wager offered by horse and dog racing tracks. Bettors wager on the winners of two races, pre-designated by the track for a particular race day. While the Daily Racing Form's glossary defines a Daily Double as two consecutive races, this is... bet (unadjusted) |
$18,000 (November 14, 2011) |