Jolynda Chenicek, a teacher from Tallahassee, Florida, competed against Scott Riccardi on Jeopardy! on Thursday, July 10. Riccardi is currently a nine-day champion and has racked up over $200,000, putting him in the top 20 of all-time for earnings during regular play.

Chenicek appeared on the Unbothered podcast on July 10 to talk about her game against Riccardi, an engineer from Somerville, New Jersey, which aired on TV that same day. hhe was in first place before Final Jeopardy, but answered the final clue wrong and dropped down to $2,799 and second place.

The Jeopardy! player shared that she started to watch game shows in high school, including Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune. After she had two sons with her husband, they ingrained the love of game shows into them. “Jeopardy! has probably been the one that’s closest to my heart,” Chenicek shared.

“I love trivia. I’m a history teacher, so I think I just have a brain for facts and trivia knowledge, so it was a dream to go on the show.”

Chenicek said that her husband kept pushing her to audition for Jeopardy!, but she kept putting it off. Eventually, Checicek thought it was time and went for it.

She first took the Anytime Test in March 2024 and heard back in August for her first audition. After a few rounds of interviews, contestants are put into a pool for two years, and if they aren’t picked during that time, they can audition again. Chenicek got the call in March 2025, inviting her to come out and film her episode.

To prepare for the show, Chenicek carried around a notebook with her everywhere. She tabbed different topics and focused on her strengths, including history, the capitals, presidents, literature, music, and art.

For topics that she wasn’t too knowledgeable about, like science, Chenicek looked at it in a historical way, like historical scientists. She also put together a music playlist and did research on classical music. Chenicek discovered an online site where they had flashcards for various topics that allowed her to study topics more easily.

Chenicek said that she was with her whole family when she found out she was going to be on the game show, and said the whole experience has been “surreal.” “Immediately, I was excited and then nervous,” she said. “I really had to step up my game and lock down on the studying.”

Her husband and sons also flew out to California with her to watch her episode, and they made a small vacation out of it.

As for advice for future contestants, Chenicek suggests “finding out what works for you.” She focused on her strengths, flashcards, listening to podcasts, and putting together her notebook. “Dedicate time to really studying,” the Jeopardy! player said.

“Find that other entry into something that’s hard for you, like I did with science.”

Chenicek ended by saying to just take the Anytime Test because you never know if you’ll get the call. “If you find something you’re really interested in, just do it,” she said.