Kansas City man fulfills lifelong dream by taking on “Jeopardy!”
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Sammy Sanchez, a Kansas City resident, has dreamed of being a contestant on the game show “Jeopardy!” since he was a kid.
“Getting home from school it would always be on TV,” he said.
“At first, I was like, what’s going on over here? Then, I would just keep watching and keep watching.”
His mother knew that he was a smart kid from a very young age.
“He’s been smart, very, very smart, since he was born, oh my goodness, he started talking when he was 9 months!” she claimed.
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Sanchez said he started taking the “Jeopardy!” testing in 2015, and nine years later, he got a phone call.
“The first thing I did was google the phone number to make sure it was an LA area code, and I wasn’t getting pranked or anything,” Sanchez said.
He said it was about a month between the phone call and the taping of his episode.
Sanchez works at Jim’s Alley Bar in Crossroads, where, on Thursday, they opened early for Sanchez along with his friends and family, who were able to watch his episode.
As people started finding their seats, Sanchez recalled how he felt when his childhood dream came true.
“As soon as I saw him walk out on stage, I just started crying. It was a dream come true, I was like, this is actually happening! There’s Ken Jennings!”
In the first round, Sanchez accumulated $3200 in winnings after going through categories like “some pains, some gains”, “a study in scarlet” and “starts with z”. After every correct answer, the crowd at Jim’s would erupt with cheers for Sanchez, which grew even louder when he found two out of three daily doubles on the board.
“It was so much fun to see the smiles on everyone’s faces,” said Sanchez’ friend Colton Carson.
“I’ve never cheered that hard for trivia!”
In round two, Sanchez took the lead and was leading the five-day champion by a few hundred dollars. He would bet big on his final “Jeopardy!” question but would not get it correct and would lose the episode.
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Despite the loss, the experience was a dream come true for Sanchez.
“I stepped out of the studio at 6 p.m. and was like ‘What just happened? Was that real? Did this really just happen?’”
He said that he is interested in other game shows now that he’s been on one.
“I didn’t think that would be something I’d be interested in, but it was such an incredible experience on Jeopardy, I would not be opposed to doing this in some other capacity.”
“I couldn’t be more proud of him,” said his dad, Cesar.
“As a mom, I could tell that he was a little nervous,” Jenny said.
“But he did it and he enjoyed it and we’re really proud of him.”
Sammy said that he could feel the love from his supporters.
“We have a really good staff here, really good crew here and it’s just so heartwarming that everyone’s able to support me with this. It’s pretty cool. There’s a lot of love in this room tonight and I can feel it.”
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