This is Jeopardy!’s Mattea Roach

Back in the fall of 2020, Nova Scotia was facing its second wave of COVID-19.

Mattea Roach was locked down at her parents' home here in Halifax and she decided to take an online test to see if she could become a contestant on Jeopardy! game show.

“I figured nothing would probably come from it, because over 100,000 people take it every year,” said the 23-year-old who once attended the south end's Sacred Heart School and now works as a tutor in Toronto.

“But in June of 2021, I heard back and was invited to the second stage of the audition process, which was another online test on Zoom.”

A few days after that, she was invited to a mock game play audition over Zoom.

“I was sitting at my desk, clicking a little pen, pretending I was ringing in on the buzzer,” Roach said. “And at that point I was told anytime in the next 18 months I could be called to appear on the show.”

“At the start of January I got the call, I went down to L.A. a couple weeks later and the rest is history.”

Following Thursday night's broadcast of the popular quiz show, the 23-year-old is now a three day Jeopardy! champion with over $80,000 in winnings.

“I think the most surreal moment is when you first walk in and see the Jeopardy! stage,” she said. “There's this moment that washes over you, like wow, I'm really here. I'm really about to be on this show.”

Roach said she has always had a thirst for knowledge — her favourite book as a little kid was an atlas — and she's been blessed with a good memory.

Her best categories on the show involve world leaders or recent world history.

“I was a debater at Sacred Heart from Grade 8 through to Grade 12, so I was always having to consume a lot of current affairs writing and a lot of news, as a result I have a pretty good memory for that sort of thing.”

She lists sports as her weakness, along with topics that are very focused on the United States.

“Sometimes things that Americans might learn in school because it's part of their country's history, I might not necessarily know because we don't get as much detail on that,” Roach explained. 

“I think that's a thing that can be a little bit of a disadvantage for Canadians appearing on the show.”

Roach's first victory on the game show came Tuesday night when she racked up $32,001, telling the host Mayim Bialik, “my student loan is paid off.”

She picked up another $38,000 on Wednesday night's episode and will return to the show Friday night at 8:30 p.m. to see if she can add to her $80,400 in winnings.

“I will have to pay tax on those earnings in the U.S. … but I can't be upset,” she said. “Even after tax it's going to be a pretty substantial chunk of change I think, and not to mention the conversion rate.”