Lessons From Nacogdoches’ Two-Time ‘Jeopardy!’ Winner

At age 28, Morgan Briles can already check off one item her bucket list. Actually, she can check it off twice. The digital repository librarian at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches is a recent two-time winner on “Jeopardy!” taking home $38,200 in prize money. She told Texas Standard she trained for the show by watching old episodes and looking for patterns in the questions. During the taping, when it was clear she was the winner, she says she felt like she was “glowing.” Briles plans to use some of her prize money to travel to places she’s always wanted to visit, like France, Italy and Japan.

Test your knowledge of Texas trivia; share your answers @TexasStandard on Twitter and Facebook:

– This famous comedy troupe got its big break in Nacogdoches and went on to do film.

– These two U.S. presidents are the only two born in Texas.

– The mockingbird was designated the official state bird in Texas in 1927. This is the number of states that had established a state bird prior to Texas.

“I was so excited. They contacted me only a few weeks after I did my final audition. So they seemed like they really wanted me. And I was so excited to kind of, sort of, check off a bucket-list item.”

Two-time “Jeopardy!” winner Morgan Briles. Courtesy “Jeopardy!”

“I watched a lot of old shows, actually. It helped me get familiar with the clues, how they write the clues and the pacing, because there’s often hints in the text of the clues that can help you get that answer even if you don’t know the fact outright.“

“When you’re playing the show, it all goes really fast. And I found that when I was playing, I was just very focused on, like, buzzing in at the right time and getting the question right. And when I’d get a second to breathe, I’d look at the score and I’m like, oh, I’m I’m ahead!”

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