From viewer to game winner, one Dexter man takes on the TV game show, Jeopardy

He recently won five games in a row on Jeopardy, earning him a spot in the 2023 Tournament of Champions, and he lives in Dexter, Michigan.

Who is Ben Goldstein?

From being a longtime fan of the show to making the Tournament of Champions, Dexter’s Goldstein has had an exciting run on the long-running television quiz show. The Sun Times News (STN) connected with Goldstein to ask him about this cool experience, how he got there and what’s next.

STN asked him if he’s always watched the quiz show.

“Like many people who have been on the show, my earliest memory of Jeopardy was watching the show with my grandmother,” he said. “But I started watching the show regularly about 15 years ago. My wife and I were living in Brooklyn, NY, at the time, and our Saturday morning ritual was grabbing a couple of egg sandwiches from the bodega down the street, and binge-watching jeopardy episodes that we had DVRd (digital video recording) during the week. These days, my wife and I watch our Jeopardy recordings at night, after putting the kids to bed.”

He and his wife, Rachel, moved to Dexter from Ann Arbor in 2014. They have two sons, Rocco and Vinny and a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel named Clementine. His wife is from Bessemer, Michigan, in the western Upper Peninsula. They met in New York City after college, and moved to Ann Arbor in 2011, where they lived until they were ready to buy their house.

Goldstein is currently the Director of Content Marketing at Vitally, a software company headquartered in New York City. He grew up in the Chicago area, attended the University of Michigan from 1998-2002, where earned a Bachelor of Arts in English and was also an editor for The Michigan Daily.

The opportunity to appear on Jeopardy started with him taking the online qualification test in 2015, which he took nearly every year since then.

“Just when I was about to lose hope of ever getting on the show, I got invited to a live audition test last July (2022), where myself and some other Jeopardy hopefuls took a 50-question trivia test on a Zoom call,” he said looking back. “I passed it, and got a chance to do a final ‘gameplay audition’ in November.”

During that audition, he got to play a mock game of Jeopardy in a group of about 12 people, as well as do a mock interview segment where he was asked questions like "What do you do for fun?" and "What would you do if you made a lot of money on the show?"

“I felt like I performed well in that audition—I got to show off some of my personality, which the Jeopardy producers like to see—and in late February of this year I officially got invited to an episode taping on April 4th,” said Goldstein.

Now mind you, he’s done bar trivia about three times in his life (most recently at Oscar's Sports & Grill in Saline), but he’s never been part of a team. However, he said he’s been “getting more invitations for that sort of thing lately, though!”

His main method of preparation was using the online flashcards at trivialstudies.com/jeopardy, which he said collects every clue that's ever been featured on the show.

“Since Jeopardy tends to feature certain categories, people, and events over and over again, I think that simply reviewing the old material is the best way to prepare,” said Goldstein. “I paid special attention to categories where I know I'm weak—Shakespeare plays, European geography, and Greek mythology, for example. And whenever I came across a question that was really unfamiliar to me, I looked up the entry on Wikipedia and read at least the intro section.”

Goldstein with Jeopardy host, Mayim Bialik. photo is courtesy of the game show, Jeopardy

This helped lead to him winning five games in a row and a spot in Jeopardy's 2023 Tournament of Champions. His episodes were taped in April at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, CA, and aired from June 16th to June 23rd.

STN asked him if there is anything in particular you want the community to know about his run on Jeopardy.

“The support I've gotten from Dexter residents on Facebook and Nextdoor—and just while walking around town—has been unbelievable,” he said. “I feel like a local celebrity now, and I'm so excited to represent this amazing community later this year at the Jeopardy Tournament of Champions.”

As for advice for any other Dexter residents who want to get on the show, he said, “Be persistent about taking the online Anytime Test. If you haven't been chosen for an audition, it probably isn't because you're not good enough. There's a lottery system for contestants who pass the test, and it can take a long time for your name to come up. And if you make it all the way to a gameplay audition, remember that it's a personality test more than anything. Stop studying the list of U.S. presidents, and start practicing your smile in the mirror.”

Ben Goldstein during one of his Jeopardy appearances. photo courtesy of the game show, Jeopardy

His Jeopardy appearance was the first time in 34 years that someone has represented Dexter on the show.

Encouraging those interested, he said, “Take the Anytime Test as many times as you're allowed to, and hopefully we won't have to wait another 34 years for our next local Jeopardy champion!”

As for him, the next step is sort of unknown at this point due to the ongoing Writer's Guild of America strike, so the filming and airing dates of the next Tournament of Champions are still undetermined.

“But eventually, I'll get to face off against this year's best Jeopardy champions, including 21-game winner Cris Pannullo, 13-game winner Ray Lalonde, and nine-game winner Ben Chan,” said Goldstein. “I'm definitely an underdog in this incredible field of players, but I think my buzzer speed and tricky wagering could help me pull off a few upsets.”

So stay tuned…

Here's a link to Jeopardy's online qualification test.

Goldstein celebrates during a Jeopardy watch party at the Session Room on June 16. photo courtesy of Ben Goldstein