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Cathy Farrell (Wyandotte, Mich.) Takes Second Place Honors;

Adam Elkana-Hale (St. Louis, Mo.) Finishes Third

CULVER CITY, CALIF. (February 13, 2015) – Jennifer Giles, a 38-year-old third grade bilingual education teacher at Columbine Elementary School in Longmont, Colo., won the JEOPARDY! Teachers Tournament in an episode that aired today. She bested 14 of her fellow educators to claim the $100,000 grand prize and an automatic berth in the next JEOPARDY! Tournament of Champions.

Cathy Farrell, a Physics and General Science teacher at Huron High School in New Boston, Mich., came in second and won $50,000, while Adam Elkana-Hale, a math teacher at Loyola Academy of St. Louis in St. Louis, Mo., finished third and took home $25,000.

“When I knew that I had won, I was in a state of shock for quite a while,” Giles said. “I was elated, ecstatic, and incredibly thankful to have had the opportunity to compete. I am looking forward to the Tournament of Champions; the other teachers have tasked me with winning that as well!”

Giles, who holds a dual B.A. in French and Linguistics from Truman State University in Kirksville, Mo., and an M.A. in Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Education and Special Education from the University of Colorado at Boulder, credits her liberal arts education for some of her success on JEOPARDY! because “you know a little about a lot of things.”

She plans to use some of her winnings to make home improvements, travel, and donate to a cause close to her heart.

“I will use some of my winnings to make a donation to BCAP, the Boulder County AIDS Project,” said Giles. “I've been a longtime supporter of the organization, since I worked at their food bank in high school. Their mission is to provide support, advocacy and education to those in our community who are infected with or affected by HIV.”

Cathy Farrell, the second-place finisher, said she was happy and relieved to make it into the final, and that the high level of competition made buzzing in quickly a critical part of the game. She also said that her $50,000 payday didn’t seem real at the time; she was still enjoying playing so much that the money felt secondary.

“Jennifer and Adam were amazing to compete with…and I say “with” rather than “against” intentionally,” Farrell said. “Although, obviously, each of us wanted to win, it really did feel more like the game was something we were playing together, rather than as antagonists.  After the tournament, most of us met in the hotel lounge and spent hours that night celebrating and talking.”

Adam Elkana-Hale, for whom appearing on JEOPARDY! was “the culmination of a life’s dream,” said he didn’t go into the tournament with any expectations other than to do his best. He was initially disappointed in his third-place finish, however, he later experienced a change in perspective.

“Honestly, I was kind of down, as I had blown my lead in the first leg of the final by missing a question I knew in Final Jeopardy!,” Elkana-Hale said. “I knew I could have won. However, after a few days, I realized the opportunities that kind of coin would open for me and my family and I felt relief more than anything.”

JEOPARDY!, America’s Favorite Quiz Show® and its host, Alex Trebek, began their 31st season September 15, 2014. The top-ranked game show among homes, with 25 million viewers each week, JEOPARDY! holds the Guinness World Records® title for the most Emmy® Awards won by a TV game show (31 Emmys), including the 2014 Emmy® for Outstanding Game Show. In 2014, JEOPARDY! won the inaugural Writers Guild of America award for Outstanding Writing for Quiz and Audience Participation; it is also the recipient of 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.

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