East Lansing’s Jeopardy! Brain Trust: Local Contestants Share Their Paths to the Iconic Game Show

One of the world’s most popular game shows has local connections, as several Jeopardy! contestants live or work in East Lansing.

The show has a simple premise – three contestants try to win the most money by answering trivia questions correctly. But locals who have been on the show said they took unique approaches to prepare for their Jeopardy! appearances, and left the experience with more than just their winnings. 

Pete Johnston, a film studies professor at Michigan State University, was the most recent contestant in the area to appear on the show, competing just last month. However, his game show experience didn’t begin with Jeopardy!.

Johnston competed on his high school’s Quiz Bowl team, and was featured on WKAR’s Quizbusters, a game show where mid-Michigan high school students were invited to compete in a fast-paced trivia game. 

He took the Jeopardy! application test multiple times, never considering that he would actually get a call back. Once Johnston found out he would be on Jeopardy!, he spent around 30 minutes per day studying different topics that often appear on the show, as contestants are not given categories ahead of time.

“It is utterly surreal to step onto the stage of the show that you have watched for over 30 years,” Johnston said. “And it’s slightly different than, you know, on TV. It felt smaller, in fact.”

Johnston first appeared on the show last summer, finishing as runner-up. He returned for the Second Chance Tournament in December 2025, competing in four games before he ultimately lost on a Final Jeopardy question.

Although Johnston’s time on the show has gained buzz due to its recency, there is a larger network of East Lansing community members who have been contestants.

“We know we’re out there,” said Chrissie Evaskis-Garrett, a 2017 Jeopardy! Contestant who now works as the interim director of East Lansing’s public library. “It’s kind of just nice to know that if the worst comes to worst, if I really needed something, I could call or message somebody who is a former Jeopardy! contestant, and they’re more than likely to help.”

Although Evaskis-Garrett appeared on the show almost 10 years ago, she is still active in the Jeopardy! community. She is involved in a women’s Jeopardy! Facebook group, affectionately known as the “WOJ Lodge”, and is also part of Michiganders and librarians Jeopardy! groups.

Evaskis-Garrett said her appreciation of libraries helped her when it came time for her to compete on the show.

“What I did was actually use my local library,” Evaskis-Garrett said. “I went to the children’s section and started checking out books from there. A thing about Jeopardy is that it is hard, but it’s also made for people at home to play along with.”

Reading children’s books on subjects she wasn’t as knowledgeable about helped her feel more confident when those topics appeared on the show, Evaskis-Garrett said.

Johnston isn’t the only contestant who is an MSU faculty member. Dan Smith is an assistant professor in the College of Arts & Letters, and is a three-time Jeopardy! champion from 2009.

Having a background in musical theater, Smith found the audition process easier than most, and was used to taking stage direction from the producers. Contestants must have vast trivia knowledge to have a chance to win on the show, but Smith also found it important to showcase some charisma when host Alex Trebek spoke with contestants following commercial breaks.

Since Smith appeared on the show long before Johnston and Evaskis-Garrett did, his preparation process looked slightly different.

“I had printed out a map of Asia and a map of South America, and I studied the countries and capitals. I got two clues right based on that studying, so that was worth doing,” said Smith.

Contestants who spoke with East Lansing Info said that buzzing in quickly is key to having success on the game show.

“There’s a lot of timing involved. At the time that I was on the show, Alex Trebek was the host, and there would be light that showed up on the side of the board that would let you know when it was OK to buzz in,” said Smith.

Smith found that it was easiest for him to press the buzzer as soon as he heard Trebek finish reading a question. Both Smith and Evaskis-Garrett said playing video games helped them time their buzzer on the show.

Smith recalls finding a great rhythm with the buzzer during the first three games, but he got off rhythm during the fourth game, causing his time on Jeopardy! to come to an end.

Each of the Jeopardy! contestants who spoke with ELi remember their appearance fondly.

“A lot of folks were like ‘I knew you would make it,’ it was very sweet,” Evaskis-Garrett said. “But there was a comment that somebody left that I think about. One of my cousins posted on there ‘You know, your grandmother would have been so proud of you.’”