Date of first appearance:
July 12th-18th, 2001
Total Winnings:
$61,501
Stats:
5-time champion
Favorite Anecdote:
Living in Los Angeles, it's not unusual to run into celebrities. What is unusual is when you start running into the same person over and over again, and the celebrity I've seen the most... by far... is Alex Trebek. I've seen him in restaurants, at the theatre, in the hardware store, at the Santa Anita Racetrack. I've even run into him a couple of times in New York. Now, I've never approached him, even after I was on the show, but I must confess I've secretly thought of these Alex sightings over the years as a kind of personal good luck charm. Well, except for that day at Santa Anita--he did a pitiful job that day.
How did being on Jeopardy! affect your life?
Shortly after my Tournament of Champions, I got together with a group of former Jeopardy! champs, and we formed a team to compete at a trivia tournament in Las Vegas. When we arrived the morning of the tournament, we found out the organizers had underestimated the number of meeting rooms they needed, so we wound up playing several of our games in hotel guest rooms. The first game we played, I decided this was one of the most surreal moments of my life--lying on a bed in a hotel room in Las Vegas, intertwined with a bunch of Jeopardy! champions answering trivia questions!
Like most Jeopardy! champions, the question I'm asked most--"What's Alex really like?"--changed last year to "What do you think of Ken Jennings?" While I always tell people how much I admire Ken, I must confess I was taken aback one particular time I was asked the question. Last summer, I directed the play Squeeze Box in New York, and I hit the jackpot with finding my producers--Anne Bancroft and Mel Brooks. At the opening night party, I saw a New York Times reporter making his way over to me, pushing past the star of the show, the producers, and the various celebrities in the crowd. I thought, "Isn't that nice, he wants to find out all about the show from the director," but when he got to me, notebook in hand, his first question was, sure enough, "What do you think of Ken Jennings?" |
"This playwright and director became a 5-time winner in 2001. Today, he's still working on his craft. From North Hills, California..."
2005 Ultimate Tournament of Champions Round 1 player: $5,000.
2003 Tournament of Champions semifinalist: $10,000.
Season 17 5-time champion: $61,501 + a Chevrolet Suburban.
Alan shared a $600,000 prize with Ethan Brosowsky and his "pub quiz" team comprising Ethan, Alan, Brad Rutter, Jonathan Dinerstein, Adam Stein, and Rebecca Ward on Million Dollar Mind Game aired 2011-11-27. The players met each other at O'Brien's Irish Pub Quiz in Santa Monica, California. The players unanimously opted to end the game at the $600,000 level rather than proceed to the million dollar question and risk losing all their winnings.
Jeopardy! Message Board user name: alan.b |
