WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WTHR) - A West Lafayette man showed off his trivia skills Monday night in front of a national TV audience.
George Lyle works at Purdue University and interned here at Channel 13 more than a decade ago.
A self-proclaimed "trivia nerd," Lyle finished second on Monday's show, walking away with $2,000. But he admits the cash prize wasn't his favorite part of the experience.
"Meeting Alex Trebek was really cool, because he's just as nice in person as you think he is when you see him on TV," Lyle said. "Now, I did tell him that I'd love to have his job when he's done with it. And he kind of looked at me and laughed and said, 'Well, you know I'm not going to be here forever, so go talk to those guys, and see what you can work out."
Lyle says a key "Jeopardy!" strategy involves mastering the buzzer. It's so important, in fact, that producers trains contestants on how and when to press it properly.
We asked him if the contestants were competitive and cut-throat behind-the-scenes.
"Honestly, because we're all nerds, to be fair, you don't make it on Jeopardy unless you are a nerd, so everybody's really nice to one another," Lyle said. "Even that 10-time champion I was just talking about, is a really nice guy. We all wished him well. I mean, we're sad that we lost, but it was a pleasant experience."
