Grand Blanc Native Becomes a Record Breaker on ‘Classic’ Episode of ‘Jeopardy’ [VIDEOS]
The game show 'Jeopardy' has been digging into its archives this week as the production of new episodes was halted in March due to the coronavirus pandemic. Last night a Grand Blanc native was featured in a rebroadcast of a classic episode that originally aired on October 4, 1985.
Chuck Forrest, who currently resides in Marino, Italy, was a 24-year-old law student at the time of his original appearance on the show. The now-59-year old currently works for the International Fund for Agricultural Development in Rome.
We were impressed that both host Alex Trebek and announcer Johnny Gilbert pronounced Forrest's hometown of Grand Blanc correctly.
Forrest became the show's very first 'Super Champion. During his original appearance on the show's second season, he broke every existing record, winning $72,800 during regular season play, which was more than any of his predecessors. At that time, contestants' appearances were capped at five episodes before appearing again as a tournament player and Forrest was the first player to do so.
Chuck's record stood for about three years until it was broken by New York City transit cop Frank Spangenberg.
In 1986, the Grand Blanc native went on to win the Tournament of Champions and added another $100,000 to his cash winnings.
Forrest went on to compete in 'Super Jeopardy' tournaments in 1990, 2002, and 2005.
He's also responsible for the Jeopardy technique known as the Forrest Bounce, in which contestants jump from category to category rather than pick the clues in each category in dollar-amount order.
If you missed it, you should be able to watch last night's (7/22) episode here if you have a Hulu account.