‘Jeopardy!’ makes col. $136K richer - Military News | News From Afghanistan, Iraq And Around The World - Military Times

‘Jeopardy!’ makes col. $136K richer

Five victories, $136,801 in cash and one priceless memory for his son.

“Jeopardy!” was very good to Col. Dave Belote.

Belote’s haul was the largest in 2009 and the 12th highest in the show’s 26-year history. His six episodes aired Dec. 2-9, about a month after the last one was taped.

“I had a blast. It was some of the most fun I’d ever imagined,” said Belote, 46, commander of the 99th Air Base Wing at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev. “I think I did the uniform and my beloved service proud.”

By simply appearing on the show, Belote fulfilled a lifelong dream — once, he mailed 65 postcards to the show just for the chance to take the test for potential contestants — and gave his 21-year-old son Drew, who has autism, an experience he’ll never forget.

Drew, a rabid fan of “Jeopardy!” host Alex Trebek and a computer version of the game, almost missed seeing his dad win the big money. He couldn’t get out to the first taping of the show, based in Los Angeles, because he and his mom, Pam, are living in the family’s Virginia home while Belote is assigned to Nellis.

Belote knew he had to string together four wins — “Jeopardy!” tapes five shows a day — if he wanted to get Drew out to California. And he did.

Armed with an encyclopedic knowledge of such arcane categories as “Polka Your Eyes Out” and “Life in Des Moines,” and helped by a little luck and the steel nerves of the fighter pilot he is, Belote took on challenger after challenger.

A “Jeopardy!” game takes about 20 minutes to tape, but it seemed like 20 seconds to Belote. Before he knew it, he was in Final Jeopardy, sitting on $20,000 and facing a competitor only a few thousand dollars behind.

The category: “Phrase Origins.” The bet: $19,999.

“I’m either going to win or not, and I don’t care what the difference is between first, second and third,” Belote recalled thinking to himself as he put up his money.

Then came the clue: Used in 1947's “U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey,” this 2-word term became widely used again in NYC on 9/11/01.

Belote, a 24-year Air Force veteran, had read large sections of the survey for a work project about a decade earlier.

“I immediately started scribbling, ‘What is Ground Zero?’” he said. “I [was] probably grinning from ear to ear at this point.”

Of course, Belote had the right answer, but there wasn’t any time to bask in the glory of being a “Jeopardy!” champion. His next game was already about to start. One of his challengers was Todd Ryan, a biology student who had wowed the other contestants in pregame warm-ups with his mastery of esoteric subjects.

“Todd is consistently kicking my butt on the buzzer, getting those questions I know I know and ringing in on questions that I have no idea what they are,” Belote recalled. “I was thinking, it’s a 12-round title fight and this guy’s Muhammad Ali and I’m just trying to stay in the ring with him.”

One question Todd nailed: Tomcats, Falcons & Eagles get this alphabetical designation in the Air Force. The answer: F, as in F-16 Fighting Falcon.

At the end of Double Jeopardy!, Belote found himself in third place, $7,400 behind Todd.

The final category was “Shakespeare’s Women.” The colonel strategically wagered $7,401.

The clue: The name of this royal daughter from a tragedy is from a word meaning “little king.”

Belote didn’t know the answer straight away. He had to puzzle it out in the 30 seconds allotted, as the show’s famous theme music played. His first thought was Ophelia, from “Hamlet,” but she wasn’t a royal daughter. Then he thought of translations of “king” — the Latin, rex, the Spanish, rey. It came to him — Regan, from “King Lear.”

The other two contestants had the right play but the wrong daughter: Cordelia.

Belote’s plan worked to perfection. Todd bet nothing, and Belote won by a dollar.

After dodging that bullet, Belote cruised to victory in the next two games. He missed both Final Jeopardy! questions but had such a big lead that he won anyway.

Belote ended the day with more than $107,000, a return trip to Los Angeles, and some amazing news for his wife.

“I grabbed my cell phone and walked outside for the funnest phone conversation in a 25-year relationship,” Belote said. “I told her the news and there was this stunned silence on the other end of the cell phone. She said, ‘Oh. My. God.’”

The best part: Drew could attend the second taping, on Nov. 4.

When the Belote family arrived at the studio, Drew was in awe, thrilled to be “inside ‘Jeopardy!,’” as he put it. Belote, however, had a case of nerves. Coming in as a challenger he had felt calm, but the pressure of being the champ weighed on him.

“I knew I wasn’t a Ken Jennings,” he said, referring to the show’s most successful contestant ever, winner of 74 games and more than $3 million. “I thought I might have an outside chance at nine or 10, but I really wanted to be a five-time champion.”

Belote made his goal by besting a playwright named Paul in the first game of the day, coming from behind in Final Jeopardy! for a second time when he nailed a question on 19th-century literature.

In the next game, though, Belote finally met his match — Jove Graham of Lewisburg, Pa.

It was a tight back-and-forth battle between the two men. Graham jumped out to an early lead, but Belote rallied and had the advantage for nearly the entire Double Jeopardy! round, aided by a couple of timely Daily Doubles.

“I said the words everybody always dreams of saying,” Belote said. “I was so far behind both times I said, ‘Let’s make it a true Daily Double, Alex.’”

But Graham gave Belote a taste of his own medicine when he correctly answered a Daily Double to retake the lead on the final clue of Double Jeopardy!.

In the final round, Belote did all he could, coming up with the right answer to a question on historic Americans. Unfortunately, Graham knew it too, and bet enough to win.

“That was how I wanted to lose,” Belote said. “A game where I was just duking it out to the very end and wasn’t standing there looking sheepish during Final Jeopardy! I left everything out on the field.”

Most contestants leave the studio after they lose, Belote said, but Drew wasn’t going anywhere. They stayed for the final three games.

The real payoff that day came when the competition was over and Belote led his son on stage to meet Trebek.

“His eyes are like saucers and he’s got a grin from ear to ear,” Belote said. “The tears are just welling up in my eyes, my heart is all the way up in my throat. I kind of choke out, ‘Drew, who is this?’ and he says ‘Alex Trebek.’”

Trebek signed a photo of the three men, a keepsake that money can’t buy.

With his winnings, the Belotes are thinking about buying a beach house on North Carolina’s Outer Banks.

“That one Regan question was worth $96,800,” he marveled. “So if we buy that beach house we’ll call it ‘Regan’s Dream’ or something.”