A student from Metairie, Louisiana...

Kevin Marshall

Have you been treated differently as a result of your appearances?
Well, my life changed a bit from being on Jeopardy! I mean, right after I was on, y'know, people started asking me for money quite a bit. And, but I mean, a lot of things were, y'know, really the same. You still have to wake up every morning and go to school, y'know, go through the whole routine and everything, but y'know, now that I--I finally got the check just a few days ago, and so I'm ready to invest that money, so... That--that'll be some nice house-buying money or retirement money or something.

What do you think makes a great Jeopardy! player?
I--I think to be a great Jeopardy! player you need a lot of--a big combination of skills: you need to have the knowledge, obviously, but it's also very important to be fast on the buzzer and people don't realize how important that is. They think--they, they think, y'know, if somebody isn't ringing in, they must not know the answer, but a lot of times, y'know, two or three contestants are trying to ring in and it's just the one who got there first who gets to answer the question, so... It's--it's really, I'd say, more about speed than knowledge, 'cause everybody here is smart, so it's really speed that's the big difference.

How did you prepare for this Tournament?
Well, to prepare for the Tournament, I really didn't do that--that much. I spent a lot of time studying--going into my first appearances, but this time I figured, "Hey, this is fun, this is a vacation," y'know, "any money I win here is gravy, so I might as well enjoy it, not worry too hard about studying."

What categories are you hoping for?
I'd have to say my favorite Jeopardy! category would be anything about Broadway musicals, because I know--I'm pretty confident about knowing those, and that's something a lot of other people aren't too great on, so I'm confident if that comes up it'll be to my advantage.

2006 Tournament of Champions semifinalist: $10,000.
Season 22 6-time champion: $98,201 + $2,000.

Jeopardy! Message Board user name: Kevin Marshall
Mom's Jeopardy! Message Board user name: Brainfreeze