While most students were cramming for midterms, one SMU sophomore was busy cramming fifteen years’ worth of “Jeopardy!” clues to prepare for the fastest quiz show in the country.

Krish Patel, a sophomore at SMU studying finance, made his national television debut on “Jeopardy!.” The episode, featuring the 19-year-old from Plano, Texas, aired on Wednesday, Nov. 26.

“I’ve been a fan of “Jeopardy!” since I was eight. I just turned an episode on, got one clue right, and then just kept going and going after that, seeing if I could learn more,” Patel said. “So I’d always wanted to apply.”

Patel decided to apply for the show during his first semester of freshman year, and successfully made it through the three rounds of quiz-like interviews.

In early September, Patel got the call-back he had been patiently waiting for while sitting in his Intro to Finance class.

“I wasn’t paying that much attention during that class, so I was on my phone and then I get this text,” he said. “I was just like, ‘No way I got the call.’ I was genuinely jumping like I was a little kid. I was just so excited.”

With only six weeks to prepare, Patel studied more than 15 years of archived “Jeopardy!” clues, relearned topics like Shakespeare, geography and practiced buzzer timing with pens and a buzzer-training app.

“I figured that I already knew most of what I knew, and now I need to expand it into other topics,” Patel said.

What also prepared him was being part of his high school Quiz Bowl team.

“I knew that Krish was wicked smart, having done Quiz Bowl and other forms of trivia throughout high school and his early life, but I never asked him if he did it for any particular reason,” Evan Konkel, a friend of Patel’s, said. “He clearly did.”

Patel carries a full course load while interviewing for the Alts program, working part-time in the Duda Family Business Library and serving as an accounting TA.

“It was very intense because it’s 15 years worth of content in six weeks on top of all your classes and stuff, so it was a lot, but overall it was fun,” he said.

Patel is also a member of RISE, a student-led real estate organization at SMU, where his peers would constantly pop-quiz him about random topics to help coach him for the big competition.

“They’ve been very supportive and kept my trivia thoughts strong,” Patel said. “People just randomly asked me like, ‘Hey, who’s the 23rd president?’ That kept me sharp during that first year when I didn’t study much of anything else besides finance.”

But “Jeopardy!” is not just about knowledge; it’s about timing and buzzer speed.

“I watched Krish every night holding his pen, practicing his buzz-in speed,” Konkel said.

And practice paid off once he was standing behind the podium.

“The guy who answers or who buzzes in isn’t the only guy who knows it,” Patel said. “There were so many buzzer races between all three of us.”

During the episode, Patel played against two contestants, one being Harrison Whitaker, who, at the time, held an 11-game winning streak.

“It felt like good boards, but the pressure of having to face a guy who’s just like going further and further away is just like ‘Oh, God, I need to buzz in more than I sit down,’” Patel said.

Patel’s game board jumped around from 16th-century history to squirrels and word puzzles, with him knowing clues on everything from U.S. presidents and Gandhi to Gen Z culture and amenities.

The game boiled down to Final Jeopardy, where the third contestant wagered everything she had and missed the clue, handing Patel the second-place finish.

“I was like, ‘Oh my God.’ I’m lucky to have gotten second place because it— honestly could have gone the other way,” Patel said. “The money or what position I finished in isn’t the main part to me. It’s just having that experience at all, especially at such a young age.”

Patel said the outpouring of support from friends, family and the SMU community made the whole experience even more meaningful.

“I was extremely happy for him because I have watched “Jeopardy!” since I was a little kid. Now I get to see him on the stage I grew up watching,” Konkel said.

“Everyone was so supportive,” Patel said. “I was kind of beating myself up for some of those missed clues. But everyone was just like, ‘How does he answer those that quick? He did so well.’ Everyone was sweet and posted a bunch, congratulating me. It was just so overwhelming, but in all the best ways.”