CULVER CITY, CALIF. (Feb. 21, 2014) – In an episode that aired today, 20-year-old Texas A&M student Tucker Pope came in second at the JEOPARDY! College Championship, winning $50,000.

“I still haven’t fully processed the fact that I won so much money,” Pope said. “Obviously, once I got into the finals, I wanted to win it all and was disappointed that I didn’t, but I still played incredibly well and am happy with how things turned out. I went in just hoping to be able to make it past the quarterfinals, and beyond that I wasn’t concerned with what happened.”

Pope left his hometown of Lubbock, Texas and moved to Denton, Texas to begin college at the age of 16. He took his last two years of high school and first two years of college simultaneously, and graduated with a junior-level qualification before transferring to Texas A&M.

“It felt incredible to represent Texas A&M and the entire Aggie Network,” said Pope, who is majoring in Business as well as taking pre-med classes. “Despite having 50,000 undergrads, it’s a very tight-knit community, and being able to represent the Aggie family on such a scale was an incredible opportunity.”

Pope will spend part of his winnings immediately, while saving some for the long term.

“My plan for the money is to use it to pay for my study abroad in Barcelona this summer, and I may take a little out for a shopping spree, probably for more bow ties and crazy socks,” Pope said. “Everything else I’m going to save and invest, and hopefully grow it before I use it to pay for medical school.”

Terry O’Shea, a sophomore at Princeton University, won the tournament and $100,000, while Kevin Shen, a junior at the University of California at Berkeley, came in third and took home $25,000.

To qualify for the tournament, prospective collegiate contestants took a 50-question online test; those who passed were selected at random to attend regional in-person auditions consisting of a second 50-question test, mock game play, and a brief interview.

Please visit JEOPARDY!’s interactive map for air times and stations nationwide.

JEOPARDY!, America’s Favorite Quiz Show® and its host, Alex Trebek, are celebrating 30 years of “answers and questions.” The top-rated quiz show in syndication, JEOPARDY! has become a pop culture phenomenon and holds the Guinness World Record for the most Emmy awards won by a TV game show (30 Emmys), as well as a 2011 Peabody Award. JEOPARDY! is produced by Sony Pictures Television, a Sony Pictures Entertainment Company; it is distributed domestically by CBS Television Distribution and internationally by CBS Television International, both units of CBS Corp. For more information, please visit Jeopardy.com.

# # #

Press Contacts:           

Alison Shapiro | Senior Publicist | JEOPARDY! | (310) 244-6514 | alison_shapiro@spe.sony.com

Susie Eun | Publicist | JEOPARDY! | (310) 244-6517 | susie_eun@spe.sony.com