Honors program director goes up against ‘Jeopardy’ champ

September 25, 2010

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Kevin Knudson, director of the UF Honors Program and mathematics professor, anticipated the day he would appear on “Jeopardy” for years. He finally got his chance July 27 when he was filmed on the game show, which aired Sept. 15.

“I came to win,” said Knudson, 40.

Unfortunately, that goal was not met. Knudson was matched against Roger Craig, the newest record-holder for the single highest scoring game with $77,000.

At the end of the day Knudson walked away with $1,000 after losing $12,000 during the final Jeopardy question.

“I had a really difficult game, the categories were just not that good for me,” Knudson said.

Going into the final question, the scores were $13,800 for Craig, $12,200 for Knudson and $6,400 for Katie Ganfield. When he saw the final category was monarchs, Knudson said he wanted to walk off stage. The question was, “Between 1513 and 1972, all the men ruling this country were alternately named Christian and Frederick.” His answer, “what is Austria,” was incorrect. The correct answer, Denmark, was selected by Craig.

At the end of the game Craig won with $24,401 and continued to be the reigning champion of the season as of Sept. 20.

“I’m good at the game, I just came up a little short,” Knudson said. “The hardest part of the game was working the buzzer.”

Back in Gainesville, Knudson teaches mathematical origami, a one-credit course. He is not disappointed in his performance on “Jeopardy.”

“My biggest fear was losing by $1, which would have happened if I got the final answer correct,” he added.