More than 30 people gathered to watch Emily Burnham’s first appearance on “Jeopardy!” on Wednesday.
Friends from all parts of her life gathered at Orono Brewing Company, cheering for every right answer from Burnham, who covered Maine culture at the BDN for two decades and now publishes a regular newsletter on Substack.
“I felt totally overwhelmed because I was like, ‘Oh my God, all of these people are here for me,’ which is a very amazing feeling that filled me with total gratitude,” Burnham said. “But it’s also like, ‘Oh my God, I do like attention, but sometimes that much attention is terrifying.’”
But, it was fun to have that many people gathered and cheering her on, she said. She had managed to keep the outcome a secret. Watch party attendees erupted in loud cheers and applause after she answered the Final Jeopardy question correctly.
Two other Bangor-area “Jeopardy!” contestants, Allen Adams and Kara Peruccio, joined Burnham’s watch party. Other Bangor bars, including The New Waverly and Barliman’s, turned on Burnham’s game show appearance.
People also tuned in Thursday and saw Burnham finish in second place.
Winning more than one game would have been great, she said, but “you only have to win one to be a champ.” She won just over $20,000 during her two appearances.
“It’s all gravy, really,” Burnham said. “The experience was really truly what mattered. It was just such a cool, fun, fulfilling experience, and one of the best things I’ve ever done in my life, so I have zero regrets.”
Working the buzzer was harder than expected, she said. She had practiced the timing but physically pressing it was difficult.
Despite that learning curve, Burnham still excelled in some of her favorite categories: movies and pop culture. She answered four of five questions right in the “Movie Role, TV Role” category, and answered multiple other movie and pop culture questions correctly.
Geography and history were also among her favorite categories. Word puzzle questions — of which there were two during her second game — are Burnham’s least favorite.
“They’re hard because your brain has to go in a certain direction to solve some of them,” she said.
While getting two categories of word puzzles was “awful,” it’s also quintessentially “Jeopardy!,” she said.
As corny as it sounds, following your dreams — like her childhood dream of a “Jeopardy!” appearance — is worth it, Burnham said.
“Even if you don’t get exactly where you wanna be, the experience of doing it is worth the ride, worth the journey,” she said.