Grand Forks' Allee Mead captures second place on ‘Jeopardy’ game show (2024)

GRAND FORKS – Allee Mead of Grand Forks faced stiff competition, but captured second place in the “Jeopardy” show that aired nationally on Wednesday, June 5.

“You gave Adriana a run for her money,” said the show’s host, Ken Jennings, as the program wrapped up. He was referring to Adriana Harmeyer, a six-day winner.

At the start of the show, Mead’s advanced education in English paid off when she gave her first correct response, “conjugate,” to a question on giving various forms of a verb. Hitting on the Daily Double, she boosted her total to $2,400 by offering a “Mason-Dixon Line” response.

A web writer at the Center for Rural Health at UND, Mead was a contestant on an episode of the popular game show that was filmed in early May at Sony Pictures Studio in Culver City, California. Her parents and sister joined her on the trip.

In an interview with the Herald, Mead said she was impressed by the congenial atmosphere on set, which she called “a well-oiled machine,” and production crew. Of the latter, she said, “They knew we’d never been on TV before. They put us all at ease.”

A lifelong fan of the show, Mead finally nabbed a spot after attempts that spanned years. She reached the audition stage three times before she was selected.

On Wednesday’s show, Mead was on a roll in the categories “Feeling the Buzz” (with responses such as Buzz Aldrin and "Flight of the Bumblebee") and “Signs of the Zodiac” (with Sagittarius, Pisces and Taurus). The last answer put her within $300 of the leading contestant.

Mead also boosted her purse with correct responses in the “Alliterative TV Shows” category, with "Golden Girls," "Paw Patrol" and "Jessica Jones," as well as in the “Books” and “City Slang” categories.

Mead competed with Harmeyer, an archivist from West LaFayette, Indiana, and Kyle Sorlie Titlow, a geographer from Washington, D.C.

In the “Final Jeopardy” category, British Places, all three posted the correct response, Bath, to a cue about the city that owes much of its early history to a temple dedicated to Sulis Minerva.

Harmeyer won the game with a show total of $19,900. Mead placed second with $9,400 and Titlow ended in third place with $4,799. In six days, Harmeyer has amassed $136,100.

“Every ‘Jeopardy’ contestant leaves with money,” Mead said. “Third place gets $2,000, second place gets $3,000, and first place wins whatever they earned and a chance to compete on the next episode.”

Only the first-place winner gets what they earned at the end of the game, she said. "Adriana had over double my score, so even if I had doubled my score, she still would've won. I bet nothing to stay in second place."

A couple of days after returning home from California, Mead’s dog suffered a torn ACL injury and needed surgery, she said. “So, I didn’t have to think too hard about how to spend any ‘Jeopardy’ money.”

Viewers can go online, to https://jeopardy.com/track , to see the lineup of Wednesday’s contestants, including information on the current six-day champion, Mead said. Viewers can also find “box scores” at https://jeopardy.com/track/jeopardata and see how each contestant performed in terms of correct responses, dollar amounts after each round, and other data, Mead said. “I’m so excited to go back and see what my stats were.”

Growing up as part of a family of learners and readers gave her the impetus to apply for a spot on “Jeopardy,” she said. She often played Scrabble with her mother, a retired teacher. Her brother, who was fascinated by trivia, was always sharing tidbits.

“The whole family got into watching 'Jeopardy,'” she said.

Mead also credits her trivia team, “Left Field,” for helping her prepare for the show. The team plays weekly, at East Grand Forks Eagles Club, with a larger trivia group that’s been playing together for decades, she said.

“I didn’t tell any of my teammates about ‘Jeopardy’ before the taping,” Mead said, “but they still unknowingly helped me study by sharing their knowledge with me, and they were very excited for me when I finally got to tell them.”

Mead encourages anyone who’s interested in the show to take the online test, she said. “A few people, after hearing I was going to be on the show, said they like ‘Jeopardy’ but aren’t smart enough for it.

“I would say that people are smarter than they give themselves credit for, and ‘Jeopardy’ is good about writing additional clues into the answers, and the categories themselves serve as hints. You don’t have to be an expert in any one category to compete on ‘Jeopardy,’ and the experience is so wonderful that it doesn’t matter if you win or lose!”