Chickaloon man wins on ‘Jeopardy!,’ returns Wednesday for more

What you need to know:

• Chickaloon resident Ron Clarke won $18,200 on an episode of Jeopardy! that aired Tuesday after defeating three-time champion Greg Monson in a rare tiebreaker.
• The 70-year-old retired biologist returns Wednesday for another episode, with a chance to extend his winning streak. Clarke described his experience on the longtime trivia show as everything he had hoped it would be.
• Clarke celebrated the victory with about a dozen supporters at the Sutton Public Library, where friends and community members watched the prerecorded episode Tuesday evening, unaware of the outcome.
• Short on time but need the local news scoop? Get free weekly news in your inbox for Mat-Su, from Mat-Su.

SUTTON – Can he make it a nightly double? 

Chickaloon’s Ron Clarke staged a dramatic comeback on Tuesday night’s episode of the iconic TV trivia show Jeopardy!, correctly answering a rare tiebreaker question to break a deadlock with three-time champion Greg Monson and win $18,200 and a return to the show Wednesday evening.

“It still really doesn’t seem quite real,” Clarke said after watching the episode alongside about a dozen supporters at the Sutton Public Library on Tuesday evening.

Clarke will appear on Wednesday’s episode with a chance to make it two wins in a row. The games are prerecorded, and he can’t reveal anything about the outcome before the show airs at 6 p.m. Alaska time.

Heading into the Final Jeopardy portion of Tuesday’s episode, which was taped last month in Los Angeles, the 70-year-old retired biologist and music lover was in second place with $9,100 — exactly half of Monson’s total. That left the defending champion from Portland in a tight spot: Monson could risk nothing and finish no worse than tied with Clarke, or he could risk $1 (or more), go for the win and possibly lose with a wrong answer. Monson played it safe and risked nothing.

The category was “1980s Music.” Clarke risked it all. Host Ken Jennings read the clue:

“A posted sign told the artists to ‘check your egos at the door’ before the recording of this 1985 single.”

Both Monson and Clarke came up with the right question: “What is ‘We Are the World’?”

That forced what Clarke said was just the seventh tiebreaker in Jennings’ more than five years as host. Jennings read another clue. This time, it was about politics:

“As part of the George W. Bush administration, she served as National Security Advisor and later as Secretary of State.”

Clarke buzzed in first and confidently answered, “Who is Condoleezza Rice?”

Game over.

The crowd inside the library erupted into applause and cheers as Clarke broke into a big grin. Since he couldn’t reveal the outcome ahead of time, the result was a genuine surprise to his friends and community members who gathered for the viewing party.

Though he couldn’t say Tuesday how he did on his second appearance, Clarke had nothing but positive things to say about the experience of being on Jeopardy!, a show he’s watched for decades.

“It was everything you would hope it would be.”

Matt Tunseth is a freelance writer from Southcentral Alaska. Write to him at matthew.tunseth@gmail.com.