Beltsville Resident, Middle School Teacher Competes On Jeopardy!: Here's How It Went

By Zak Failla From Daily Voice

The champ is here. 

North Penn High School graduate and longtime Montgomery County educator Joseph Evans will be back in the bright lights after a stirring win in his first Jeopardy! appearance on Tuesday night.

The Takoma Park Middle School teacher who hails from Beltsville went into Final Jeopardy! with a modest $9,000, behind Long Island stay-at-home-dad Aaron Himmel's $15,000 and ahead of defending champion Joyelle McSweeney's $3,600.

Then came the final category: "Literary Characters." 

Perfect for a teacher (Evans technically teaches World Studies at Takoma Park Middle School, but is well-versed on the subject).

The final clue: "'Assure me that I yet may change these shadows you have shown me, by an altered life!'", says this man.

Evans can be seen contemplating his thoughts before putting pen to paper — or, in this case, pad.

The defending champion went first. She answered "Scrooge?" with a shout out to her family, though her question mark was unnecessary. 

McSweeney was correct and doubled up to $7,200. 

Then came Evans, who wagered $6,529 and also nailed it, to put himself in the lead with $15,529 — 529 dollars ahead of Himmel, who was sitting pretty.

"So it's all up to Aaron Himmel," host Ken Jennings said. "Did he come up with Ebenezer Scrooge?" 

He did not. 

Himmel answered with "Who is Dr. Jekyll?" 

It was not Dr. Jekyll.

The Long Islander wagered $3,001 on Final Jeopardy! dashing his hopes of an upset — while sending Evans into Wednesday's episode of the iconic quiz show.

"Joe Evans comes from behind to become today's Jeopardy champion!" Jennings said. "Well done." 

Now, on Wednesday, Nov. 5, Evans will look to continue his winning streak against Sofia Meisburger, a proposal writer from Washington, DC, and Allegra Kuney, a Ph.D candidate from New Brunswick in New Jersey.

Jeopardy! airs weekdays at 7 p.m. on ABC. It can be streamed the next day on Hulu and Peacock.