EASTHAMPTON — Thriving in the categories of Abraham Lincoln quotes and rock ’n’ roll, Easthampton resident Lisa Evans won $34,401 on the TV game show “Jeopardy!” Wednesday night.
But the game had a rocky start for Evans. She was slow to answer questions and fell far behind the other contestants.
Evans quickly caught up after a stage manager approached her during a break and told her to wait until host Alex Trebek finished talking before she pressed the button. Contestants who buzz in early are penalized a quarter of a second. While that may not seem like a lot, it is on “Jeopardy!”
“I took his advice,” Evans said by phone after Wednesday’s show aired. “Once I figured out the timing, things went really well.”
She will return for Thursday’s show as defending champion.
Evans, a 1982 Smith College graduate and office manager at Regional Economic Models Inc. in Amherst, caught up late in the first round by nearly dominating the category on quotes by Abraham Lincoln. Evans said one of her uncles was a big history buff. When she would visit him, she often read the magazine American Heritage.
And her taste in music paid off in the second, or Double Jeopardy! round, when she went on a roll in the rock ’n’ roll category.
Returning champion Peter Guekguezian, a doctoral student in linguistics from California, was in the lead for the majority of the show, but Evans took the lead entering the Final Jeopardy! round.
In that final round, contestants must come up with the right question to the one clue in the category. When the final category is announced, they each strategically wager a sum of money, based on how well they think they know the category. Wednesday’s category was “Sports and Politics.”
The statement put to contestants: “After moving to Johannesburg in 1903, he formed the Passive Resisters Soccer Club.”
Evans wrote the correct answer, Gandhi, wagering $12,801.
Guekguezian also had the correct answer, but his total fell short.
Evans completed the pre-taped show in March and has had to keep her winning a secret.
“I couldn’t tell anybody,” she said.
Evan’s friends and family gathered Wednesday at Easthampton Village Pizza for a viewing party. Evans said she had forgotten how most of the show went because she had been so focused on answering the questions.
In a previous interview, Evans said her knowledge in medieval quilts will come in handy in a future episode. She’s in a medieval re-enactment group and studies old quilts and textiles. But her unique area of expertise wasn’t needed Wednesday.
Evans said viewers will have to wait until Thursday to find out what happens.
Caitlin Ashworth can be reached at cashworth@gazettenet.com.