Q&A: Chapel Hill resident and 'Jeopardy!' winner Marko Saric reflects on show experience

The Daily Tar Heel’s Caroline Horne spoke with Chapel Hill resident and “Jeopardy!” winner Marko Saric about his local connection and experience on the show. He won over $26,000 from games on last Thursday and Friday.

This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

The Daily Tar Heel: Tell me about your background and how you came to Chapel Hill?

I'm originally from just outside of Chicago. In college, I was on the pre-med track, but realized that I liked math more, so I switched and then came to UNC for graduate school. I was at UNC from 2018 to 2021, where I got my master’s in math. Now I have been teaching at Elon University for a few years.

DTH: How did you decide to sign up to compete on "Jeopardy!"?

I was always a very nerdy kid and obsessed with game shows. I gave an anecdote on my “Jeopardy!” episode that the way I learned my ABCs was not through school, but through Wheel of Fortune. When I was 7 years old, Ken Jennings was going on his unprecedented 74-game winning streak on "Jeopardy!" Something in my brain clicked, and I was like, "I want to be like that guy.” Ever since, I've been obsessed with trivia and quizzing. I'm in various trivia leagues, and I’ve been doing competitive trivia for about a year. That always gets a weird look because people are like, “I didn't know competitive trivia was a thing.” I started taking pursuit of the show seriously about a year ago.

DTH: How did you prepare? 

People ask, “Do they give you anything, like books to read for preparation?” They don't. The thing everyone will say about “Jeopardy!” is they ask about anything, but that’s really not true. It comes back to a lot of the same categories like Shakespeare, presidents or world capitals. If you watch the show enough, you'll know what the writers like to ask about, and you can study those. The rest just comes from absorbing information around you. For example, if you do really well on a television category, that's not because I sat down and made note cards on TV actors, it's because maybe I talked to a friend about that show, or maybe I watch that show myself.

DTH: Was there a section that you felt like you had an advantage in because you had general knowledge about it?

When I was in high school, I did quiz bowl. What we did as a strategy was each focusing on our main topic so that there weren't holes in the team. I was the literature and fine arts person. So, I always felt good about books, poetry, paintings and stuff like that.

DTH: Did you have any wildcard questions that you felt like you got lucky on?

When you watch on the show, it appears pretty fast-paced. That really is how fast it goes when you're filming — it’s not edited for time. A lot of it is a blur. As you're watching yourself back on the show, you will not know an answer, but on TV you actually got it right. I guess there's something about being in a high-pressure situation that kind of sharpens your decision-making skills, so you get those weird moments where you don't know that you know something.

DTH: Moving forward, would you want to compete again?

Due to the writer strikes, they introduced these tournaments where they would invite past contestants back to do sort of a bracket style competition in “Jeopardy!” So now that “Jeopardy!” is kind of in its multiverse era with all these tournaments, people can come back. It is possible that I can get a call back, and I'd absolutely love to. It's so much fun playing. Win or lose, it's the best thing ever.

@carolinehorne22

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