Harvey Silikovitz missed a call from a “Jeopardy!” producer back in 2019 — the call every aspiring contestant dreams of receiving. All he had to do was call back, confirm his availability to compete on the quiz show and book a flight to Los Angeles.
But it took Silikovitz five weeks to notice the voicemail. When he finally called back, filming on Season 35 had already wrapped.
And by the time Season 36 would begin filming, Silikovitz’s window of eligibility to compete would be up — you only stay active in the contestant pool for 18 months after an audition, as author Claire McNear notes in “Answers in the Form of Questions,” a book that explores the history of “Jeopardy!”
So Silikovitz prepared to start applying for “Jeopardy!” all over again.
if you read my Jeopardy! book, you might remember Harvey Silikovitz, aka the H-Bomb, who got the invite to go on Jeopardy! in 2019 after his 8th audition…only to miss the call and land back in the contestant pool. WELL—24 years after his first audition, today is finally the day pic.twitter.com/HoTGqAW95n
— Claire McNear (@clairemcnear) March 10, 2025
It’s a process he knew all too well — his quest to land on the quiz show dates back to 2001.
Missing that phone call from a producer came after his eighth “Jeopardy!” audition.
But for Silikovitz, the 10th time appeared to be the charm. On Monday night, he made his long-awaited “Jeopardy!” debut.
Here’s a look at how he fared — he was up against a player on an eight-game winning streak — and what competing on the show means to him after all these years.
‘A longtime dream of mine to get here’
A few months after that missed “Jeopardy!” call in 2019, Silikovitz received a life-altering diagnosis: Parkinson’s disease.
In fact, the reason he initially missed the voicemail from a “Jeopardy!” producer is because it was mixed in with messages from various doctors, as McNear reported for The Ringer.
The diagnosis didn’t deter him from pursuing the show, but it did expand his purpose in competing — something he made clear at the start of Monday’s episode.
“It’s been a longtime dream of mine to get here. But I continued chasing the dream, and now here I am,” he told host Ken Jennings. “After living with Parkinson’s for five and a half years, it’s no longer about just wanting to do well for myself. I would like to give hope and inspiration to the people who are living with chronic illnesses.”
In a recent Instagram post, Silikovitz shared how he learned to navigate his preparations for the show while grappling with a progressively debilitating disease.
“I worked hard to manage my Parkinson’s symptoms — even while relentlessly seeking to improve my knowledge base as well as my proficiency at the skills, such as timing on the buzzer, that are crucial to success on J!” he wrote.
“At long last, in late January, 2025, my dream was realized,” he continued. “I flew out to Culver City, CA to tape as a J! contestant! So how did I do? Can a person with Parkinson’s be competitive in the rigorous crucible of a Jeopardy! game? To add to the intrigue, the returning champion who was one of my 2 opponents had won her first 8 games. Did I become another of her victims? Did I put an end to her streak? Or did the third player take down both of us?”
How did Harvey Silikovitz do on ‘Jeopardy!’?
In Monday night’s game, Silikovitz was up against Laura Faddah, who was on an eight-game winning streak, and contestant Sabrina Blanks from South Carolina.
Being up against an eight-time champion didn’t seem to phase Silikovitz at all — by the time the first commercial break rolled around, he had already amassed an impressive $7,200, and Faddah, who was in second place at that point, had $1,000, according to “Jeopardy!” archives.
Silikovitz maintained a dominant lead throughout the first round, ending with $11,200 — $9,400 ahead of second place.
In the Double Jeopardy round, he furthered his lead with a $6,000 wager on the following clue in the category “Parts of the book”: “This sixth grader and title character says, ‘I’ve been looking for you God. I looked in temple. I looked in church.‘”
He came up with the correct response — “Who is Margaret?” — and by the time he got to the Final Jeopardy round, there was no way he could be caught.
Silikovitz went into the final round with a staggering $36,800. Faddah, meanwhile, had $11,200 and Blanks had $4,400, per “Jeopardy!” archives.
Even wagering $13,200 and missing the Final Jeopardy clue couldn’t change the outcome of the game for Silikovitz, who ended Faddah’s winning streak and became the newest “Jeopardy!” champion.
It was a strong first appearance on “Jeopardy!” — according to The Jeopardy! Fan website, Silikovitz had the seventh-best debut Coryat score of all time in regular play (the Coryat score is the total dollar value of the clues a contestant answered correctly, minus the total dollar value of the clues they missed).
Silikovitz returns to “Jeopardy!” Tuesday night.
