Henegar wins twice on Jeopardy!; Progresses to third day

By Charlotte Underwood    

CULVER CITY, CA. (WLAF)- It was the “culmination of a dream” for LaFollette native Brian Henegar, whose Jeopardy! appearance aired Tuesday and Wednesday night.

Henegar came away the winner in both rounds earning over $43,000 and progressing onto day three of competition. After his big win on day one, Henegar said he felt “an explosion of every emotion you can imagine.”

“It had always been my greatest dream to win one game and say I’m a Jeopardy champion,” Henegar said. Appearing on the game show had been a lifelong dream of Henegar’s since he was a child; he said he’s still “savoring the experience. “

On day one, Henegar was competing against returning champion player Crystal Zhao from Bloomington, Minnesota and Amanda Bain Wysocki from Kansas City, Missouri. Henegar won in final Jeopardy by correctly answering “Who is John Grisham?” to the clue from the category of novelists.  The clue was “A 2012 book review noted subjects that “sparked his ire”: capital punishment, big tobacco and “the plight of the unjustly convicted.” After answering the Final Jeopardy question correctly, he added $9,401 to his winnings for a $23,201 total to become the day one champion.  It was “literally” something he had trained practically his whole life for and when the moment came, Henegar said at first he couldn’t believe he had won. 

He advanced to the next round on Wednesday night, facing off against Brandon Broughton, from Missouri and Teresa Browning, from Columbus. Henegar said he wasn’t as nervous on the second night playing because he had already won his first game. “I had achieved my biggest dream of winning a game and being able to say I’m a Jeopardy champion, everything else after that was cream cheese, it was gravy; I was more relaxed and less focused,” Henegar said. Henegar once again came out on top as the day two champion with a total of $43,202. He said when he “hit the last clue about the British Civil War”, he knew he had cemented the game.” 

“When it comes to trivia, you pick things up in the weirdest places,” he said. Henegar attributes getting his last clue to listening to Monty Python when he was younger. “I got that from listening to Monty Python. They did a song about it; Oliver Cromwell,” Henegar said. According to Henegar, at the end of day two, Jeopardy Host Ken Jennings came over and told him he “looked like a kid in the candy store.”

“It was a great experience,” Henegar said. He will be on Jeopardy again tomorrow, April 6 at 7:30pm on WBIR Channel 10.

(WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED 4/6/2023- 6AM)