An 11-year-old from Newark, Delaware...

Sophia Marianiello

Are you the smartest kid in your class?
I think I'm in the top five or so in my class, but I'm not totally sure.

What was your audition experience like?
I didn't think I was actually going to be on the show, but I still had a lot of fun in doing the written test and playing the fake game and doing the interview.

What do you want to be when you want to grow up?
When I grow up, I want to do something with mechanical engineering, because I like to build.

"She plans on putting her love of building with cardboard and Legos to use as a mechanical engineer. From Newark, Delaware, let's meet..."

2009 Kids Week player (2009-07-14).

Johnny Gilbert pronounced her last name like "mare-uh-NELL-oh" during her introduction. Alex Trebek pronounced it as "mare-ee-uhn-YELL-oh".