Bearden alum Sears wins first two nights on Jeopardy!, returns to defend his crown Wednesday

After the first two contestants on Monday night’s episode of Jeopardy! got the Final Jeopardy clue right, the camera cut to Connor Sears, the third contestant who was comfortably in the lead.

Sears wore a knowing smile – one that his former teachers at Bearden High School knew all too well.

He knew that he had won.

Audiences across the world have gotten to watch as the Class of 2010 Bearden alum has won his first two nights on Jeopardy! on Monday and Tuesday. The two-day champion will return to NBC’s air waves on Wednesday night at 7:30.

Sears works as a copy editor for Esquire in New York City. He has been working with this publication for almost five years, but journalism has been a passion of his for far longer.

“It is something I’ve been doing since The Bark,” said Sears, who wrote for the school newspaper as a senior.

While at Bearden, Sears was also a member of the Scholars Bowl team for all of four years. This Bearden club helped encourage his love for trivia. Sears also joined Quiz Bowl in college and participated in trivia nights at restaurants.

“It is all the same skill set – knowing a whole bunch of a lot of things,” he said. “And getting used to the buzzer. Being familiar with how it feels in your hand and having the connection between your brain and your thumb.”

This plays a large part in the game for many players, and Sears partially credits some of his success to this extensive practice. However, he also prepared with other methods.

“Jeopardy! is something I’ve been wanting to do since I was a kid,” Sears said. “[My family] all likes watching together. I would take the online tests when I was in college, but you just kind of have to know it.

“You get the call to be on a couple weeks beforehand, but by that point it is just a matter of studying the things you think they’ll ask.”

Sears explained the process he went through before beginning to tape the show. He began by taking the “Anytime” tests, which are found on the Jeopardy! website. This is followed by a series of 40 or 50 questions.

“They give you a call, and you do a real audition,” said Sears, who started this process before the pandemic.

However, many of these processes have changed, and most auditions are now held online. 

“My most recent one was over Zoom, but that involved interviews, another test, and a practice game,” Sears said. “Then you are in a contestant pool of a couple thousand people that they could randomly pull.”

Sears also has a background in choir and musical theatre from when he was at Bearden. Although this may have helped his comfort levels in front of the audience and cameras, the unique experience of being filmed – while competing on international television – is unmatched.

“It is faster paced [than I expected],” Sears said. “But it is also a really different experience because in theatre you know your lines ahead of time.

“It is super intimidating stepping out for the first time, but once you start playing, it’s a game. It’s fun, and you forget that people are filming and that there’s an audience, and you are just playing trivia with your buds. It was a blast. Even before I started taping, they bring on maybe a dozen contestants at a time. It was just all of us hanging out together in the green room, watching the live show.”

“It is super low pressure because everyone is so nice,” he continued. “It’s a room full of people who think and act like you because you are just a bunch of trivia nerds.”

His nerves were also calmed by his family. With his sister and parents in the audience to support Sears, he wanted to perform well – not only for himself, but to make them proud as well.

Although Jeopardy! viewers will only know the winner as the episode airs, filming took place in mid-November. Sears and his family have maintained the confidentiality surrounding this, but Sears found it strange not to be able to share his good news. He said that he remembered sitting in the subway thinking, “I’m the only one who knows.”

“I’m just really pleased that the first publication to reach out to me post-win was The Bark.”