For West Chester resident Chris Kearney, a Downingtown High School West teacher, who appeared on Jeopardy! last week was the culmination of a lifelong dream that began in middle school, writes Brooke Schultz for The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Having grown up watching the show, Kearney decided eight years ago to pursue his dream of appearing. He took the 50-question online qualifying test every year, hoping to receive a call back.
Even though he made the candidate pool several times, he did not get a call until this January for the exam he completed in 2024.
“It was a dream come true, something that I had been just working on for a long time,” said Kearney. “A feeling of relief too – that, ‘All right, finally.’ So: A lot of emotions, but ones I had to kind of keep quiet.”
About two months after getting the call, he arrived on the set of the trivia show in California. To his surprise, he did not feel nervous and instead felt he had achieved a goal simply by being there.
He came in second, which he had to keep hidden until the episode aired last week.
Read more about Chris Kearney finally landing his dream of being on Jeopardy! in The Philadelphia Inquirer.
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Chris Kearney was on Jeopardy! last week.
Editor’s Note: This post first appeared on VISTA Today in March 2026.
