Maine Woman Becomes Jeopardy! Champion

How cool is this? A woman from Bangor, Maine is officially a Jeopardy! champion. You see, I don't just watch Jeopardy! sometimes, I watch it every, single night.

Emily Burnham, a writer and editor from Bangor, made her debut on the legendary game show Wednesday night and walked away with $17,201  plus the right to come back and defend her title tonight.

Burnham is a Maine native and longtime Bangor resident who spent years writing about Maine culture, history, food, music and plenty of wonderfully weird local stuff for the Bangor Daily News. She’s also a University of Maine graduate, earning degrees in English and philosophy in 2005.

And apparently all those years of soaking up random facts paid off.

Burnham got off to a slower start Wednesday but eventually built a lead of $11,400 heading into Final Jeopardy. The category was “2026 Commencement Speeches,” and Burnham was the only contestant to get the final clue correct, answering Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn. Her $5,801 wager pushed her final total to $17,201.

Even better, Burnham has been trying to get on Jeopardy! for years. She has said she grew up in a serious Jeopardy! family and took the show’s Anytime Test multiple times before finally getting the call from Sony this summer.

So yes, Maine can officially add Jeopardy! champion to the list.

And Emily isn’t done yet.

She returns Thursday night as the defending champion, representing Bangor, and all of Maine, on one of the biggest game shows on television.