When Mattea Roach made it onto Jeopardy!, the Canadian contestant assumed that if she managed to best her competitors, it would take at least a few wins until she made enough to pay off her student loans. However, as Jeopardy! fans saw when Roach’s episode aired this week, the Halifax native made a savvy wager during Final Jeopardy and walked away with a whopping $32,000. Not only was that enough to make Roach the champ, but she can already eliminate her student loan debt.
However, Roach has had to keep her big win a secret since January when she originally filmed the episode, which hasn’t been easy. “I don’t know that I would win any award for best poker face, but I think I tried my best,” she told the CBC before revealing that she still hasn’t fully processed her major windfall:
Even months later, she said it hasn’t really sunk in. “I still get chills hearing myself say that I will be able to, when I receive the money, pay off my student loan with the money from last night’s game, like I still can’t believe it,” she said.
Keeping her Jeopardy! win a secret became quite the task when Roach’s parents threw a huge watch party, as proud parents are wont to do.
“Some extended family, like my mom’s aunt, uncle and cousin, live in Marion Bridge and decided to get a group together to go watch,” Roach said. “There were some folks there who I’ve never even met that are just friends and community members up there.”
(Via CBC)
