LOS ANGELES, California — Lakewood native Evan Suttell battled back from a slow start Monday but fell short in his defense of his “Jeopardy!”
Suttell, a 2017 graduate of Lakewood High School who currently is a nonprofit program assistant with the National Environmental Health Association in Denver, Colorado, went into the first commercial break $200 in the red. However, by the end of the first round he had $1,200, trailing challengers Aiden Orzech, a teacher from Thornhill, Ontario, Canada ($2,800) and Sam Watson, a pharmacy software salesman from Westwood, Kansas ($2,400).
Suttell continued to increase his total in Double Jeopardy but did not find any of the Daily Double clues, making it difficult to cut into Orzech’s lead of $15,600 going into Final Jeopardy!
With the category of History, Suttell bet his entire total of $9,600. He correctly answered the clue of “A 1976 report initiated by Admiral Rickover found it was an internal, not external, explosion that caused the destruction of this,” with the question being “What is the Maine?”
However, Orzech also had the correct response and wagered $11,999, finishing with a total of $27,599. Watson incorrectly responded with “What is the Challenger” and finished with $0.
Suttell, who won $20,200 in the Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, edition of the show, is a veteran of quiz games. He was a member of Lakewood High School’s Academic Challenge team in 2017, which won the title on the WEWS Channel 5 quiz show. He also was a member of quiz teams at Michigan State University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in international relations and affairs, and at the University of Denver, where he earned a master’s degree in international/global studies.
“Jeopardy!” airs weekdays at 7:30 p.m. on WOIO Channel 19.
