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While competing on the popular quiz show Jeopardy!, Unitarian Universalist Rev. Kimberley Debus wore a blue and gold chalice pendant.
For Debus, the exciting challenge was also an opportunity to represent Unitarian Universalism in front of a national audience. “I’m happy to be an ambassador for people who are curious,” she said. “I was pleased to be introduced as a Unitarian Universalist minister, putting it out there and not hiding our faith.”
Debus, an entrepreneurial minister who also serves the Cedarhurst Unitarian Universalists congregation in Finksburg, Maryland, won second place in the Jeopardy! episode that aired on December 4. She earned $3,000, the standard prize for the runner-up.
She ended the competition with a ratio of ten correct responses to three incorrect ones, leaving her “pretty proud” of her performance, Debus said.
Before becoming a contestant, Debus doubted her chances of getting on the long-running show, which broadcasts five nights a week to about 9 million people.
A little peer pressure helped convince her otherwise.
Quizzing Her Way to the Top
Competitive trivia became a hobby in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Debus said.
At a friend’s invitation, she started doing trivia online through LearnedLeague, a quiz platform with thousands of players competing asynchronously.
Debus enjoyed the games and the community, which allowed her to meet “some of the most interesting people.”
“By and large, I find the trivia community to be curious and generous and encouraging,” she said.
Debus shared that her trivia hobby has helped her to find spiritual growth.
“I find I am more observant about things because I do trivia. . .You begin to see the connections when you start getting curious. I think curiosity leads us to learn more about our own spirits and about other people.”
Her friends urged her to try getting on Jeopardy! as a contestant. Initially, Debus was skeptical.
“I always thought I would never do Jeopardy! because I like to take a little bit of time [answering the questions],” she said, noting the structure of Jeopardy! rewards lightning-fast responses.
Jeopardy! hopefuls must complete the “Anytime Test,” an online test in which participants must answer 50 questions within 15 seconds. Doing well enough on the test to make it on to the show is a formidable challenge: around 127,000 people take the test every year, according to Jeopardy!’s director of communications Alison Shapiro in an interview with People in 2024.
Debus says she tried it to prove to her trivia friends that she wasn’t Jeopardy! material.
“I’ll take that test and show you I’m not good for this!” Debus recalls thinking, with a laugh. “It’s kind of a funny way to back myself into being on the show . . . I find that I will often challenge myself with reverse psychology.”
After taking the test, Debus was informed she would be added to the contestant pool. She said she kept her expectations low, as “people can stay in the contestant pool for years.”
Just six months later, she received a call asking her to be on the show.
“I was so excited,” said Debus.
Taking the Stage
At the Jeopardy! studio in Culver City, California, Debus found that the show’s staff and fellow contestants created a warm, positive atmosphere.
“The people who go on the show love the show,” said Debus, and “[the production staffers] were with us every step of the way . . . they film a week’s worth of shows in a day, and you feel a bond with this group of people.”
Debus said the contestants on different episodes would cheer each other on from the greenroom.
A missed response about famous Unitarian writer Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women still pains her.
“Millions of people are watching me blank out on a question about Little Women,” she said. (Neither of her competitors got it. The correct response: “Who is Jo?”)
After the show’s conclusion, Debus spent some time discussing the episode with her fellow contestants and host Ken Jennings. Jennings remarked on her correct answer to what he thought was a very difficult question. (A: “An East Asian dance is called the thousand-hand this, named for an enlightened being on the path to Buddhahood.” Q: “What is a bodhisattva?”)
“It was like a veil came away from his face, and with the awe of a fellow quizzer, he said, "How did you know bodhisattva?’” Debus said. “It was a little flattering to have that moment. . .I may not be a million-dollar champion of Jeopardy!, but I knew something he didn't.”
To aspiring Jeopardy! competitors, Debus recommends that they try the Anytime Test.
“Either have faith you’ll do fine or try to prove to the world you can’t do it, like I did.”