Luck knocked on Elijah Odunade’s door twice – and only because he didn’t answer it the first time, when a California phone number appeared on his phone. He was too invested in a practice game of quiz bowl, filled with questions on science, current events and history. Odunade’s skill with quizbowl began in sixth grade and has continued into his college years.
The University of Georgia political science major said his passion for trivia began in first grade in the living room of his Norcross home, where the catchy “Jeopardy!” theme song was a familiar nightly tune.
For most, “Jeopardy!” is known as America’s classic game show, but for Odunade and his family, it’s tradition. Odunade’s mother regularly played with her grandmother and luckily, the “Jeopardy!” lineage persisted.
Odunade is now representing UGA as one of the 36 college students from across the country competing in the first ever primetime “Jeopardy!” National College Championship, which premiered Tuesday on ABC, hosted by Mayim Bialik.
“It didn't seem real to me, I was in complete disbelief — I didn’t beat my mom in ‘Jeopardy!’ until I was in the 10th grade, so this is an even bigger deal than that,” Odunade said.
Last year, Odunade applied for college “Jeopardy!”, but it wasn’t his first go around at the game show. In high school, he tried to take the initial “Jeopardy!” contestant exam, but Odunade said his expectations weren’t high enough for the big competition then.
Several months passed. Odunade completed the lengthy “Jeopardy!” application process made up of multiple interviews, mock games and timed trivia exams and transferred from Georgia Southern University to UGA. Finally, he got the call in October.
Out of 26,000 students who applied, Odunade said he ranked at the top.
Go Elijah! #GoDawgs https://t.co/YrGK91YCUX
— UGA (@universityofga) February 10, 2022
“You are living out your mother’s dream,” said Odunade’s mother, who was the first person he called with the good news.
The competition was filmed last November and all student contestants were sworn to “Jeopardy!” secrecy about what happened in the Culver City, California, television studio. They are permitted to speak about the path that led them there.
Odunade, a self-proclaimed pop culture junkie with math as his weak point, said some of his teachers didn’t believe his excuse when he missed classes to be on the show.
“Roy Segars, my math modeling professor, thought I was joking when I told him,” Odunade said.
But Segars didn’t know that Odunade had some serious preparation ahead. Odunade watched previous college championship games, studied past “Jeopardy!” questions and often played a few games before going to bed to get his timing down.
During the actual filming, Odunade said he felt well-prepared, but kept reminding himself about the simple parts of the game, like answering the presented question in the “Jeopardy!” question format.
“It was a complete whirlwind — when it started, it was over,” Odunade said.
Nevertheless, Odunade said he felt “pure elation” when he made his mark in the studio to play two mock games and film a day of promotions for the show.
Odunade competed in quarterfinal game six on Thursday against three other students, including semifinalist Lauren Rodriguez from Pomona College and Matt Downing from the University of Notre Dame.
Although Odunade placed second and will not move on, Odunade correctly answered “What’s a bulldog?” at the end of the first round – a testament to the UGA legend.
He returned to his Norcross home where it all began to watch the first episode of the college series, but this time, with himself on the screen, carrying out an Odunade family tradition surrounded by family and his quiz bowl friends on Zoom.
“I'm now part of a long history of people on this game show..so many great winners like Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter. It's cool to have my name amongst all those greats who competed once – I now have a whole new appreciation for the show,” Odunade said.
If you missed Elijah’s debut episode, you can stream it on Hulu.
Correction: In a previous version of this article, the number of students who applied for "Jeopardy!" was misstated. The Red & Black regrets this error and it has since been fixed.
