A student originally from Ridgewood, New Jersey...

David Madden

Have you been treated differently as a result of your appearances?
I don't think I've been treated different, really. Uh, however, I was recognized while birdwatching in Nortwestern Ghana, um, by, albeit, someone from New Jersey, but still, the fact that Jeopardy! fame radiates to all corners of the Earth is kinda cool, I think.

What categories are you hoping for?
Basically, any tough geography category would be right up my alley. Um, it's funny, though. With all the studying I've done, a bunch of categories that I really wouldn't have wanted to see a few years ago, I think I'd do okay with now, and I'd say country music's a perfect example of that. It's something that I never knew that much about, but having studied, uh, studied it for the show, I got a Daily Double right on Johnny Cash, and got another $1000 clue on George Jones, and that's from the studying, so I've tried to plug my weaknesses as best I can.

How have you spent your past Jeopardy! winnings?
I donated about 15% to a number of charities, setup two scholarship funds in the names of two of my best high school teachers. Uh, obviously a good portion of it went to Uncle Sam. Um, but, I'd say aside from that, I did a bit of traveling, but most of it's just gone into savings.

What do you think makes a great Jeopardy! player?
I think a number of things make a great Jeopardy! player. Um, strategy, for me, played a big role: searching for the Daily Doubles was something that really helped me. Um, I realized afterwards that in the 60 Daily Doubles that appeared during my shows, I selected 43 of them and got 41 of them right, and that was largely as a result of me looking for them. And, I think, for me, that played a big role, but other than that, buzzer speed, knowledge, and just being relaxed and having fun is all very important.

Do you plan to do anything differently this time around?
My strategy is more or less the same in the Tournament as it was when I was playing, however, I would say that I'll be a little bit more willing to wager big on Daily Doubles and Final Jeopardy! just because everyone here is such a good player that I really would need to wager big, I think, to put a game away if that comes up.

2024 Jeopardy! Invitational Tournament semifinalist: $10,000.
2019 All-Star Games member of winning Team Brad: a share of $1,000,000 split three ways with Brad Rutter and Larissa Kelly.
2006 Tournament of Champions semifinalist: $10,000.
Season 21/22 19-time champion: $430,400 + $2,000.

David's 19-win streak was, at the time, the second-longest in Jeopardy! history after that of Ken Jennings (74 wins, $2,520,700). David's performance in terms of number of wins was surpassed by the 20-win run of Julia Collins in Season 30, but with winnings of $428,100, Julia did not top David's $430,400 cash winnings.

During David's Jeopardy! run, he resided in Berlin, Germany as a student pursuing a master's degree in international relations.

Jeopardy! Message Board user name: herrmadden