14-year old SwimAtlanta swimmer Justin Bolsen bowed out in the semi-finals of the 2019 Jeopardy! Teen Tournament in an episode aired on Monday. He placed 3rd in his group and took home $10,000 for reaching the penultimate round of the tournament.
The television trivia-based game show Jeopardy! is enjoying a surge in popularity thanks to James Holzhauer’s revolutionary record-setting approach to the game unlike anything seen in over 50 years that it’s been on the air.
Bolsen must have been watching. The 14-year old was playing in the semi-finals of the Jeopardy! Teen Tournament (the episode aired on Monday) and bet it all on a “daily double” question in the 2nd round – his entire earned $6,600.
Bolsen’s bet didn’t pay off, though. He missed the question, taking him down to $0, and he wasn’t able to recover.
Missed Question:
- Answer: Al knows that this word for the 3 in 8³ can also mean a person who advocates an idea
- Question: What is an exponent? (Bolsen posed “What is a root?”)
In his quarterfinal matchup, Bolsen won by a landslide, with a final score of $25,342, beating out 2 high school juniors (he is just a freshman). He was boosted in that match by pulling all 3 “daily doubles,” and getting all 3 correct.
This isn’t Bolsen’s first quiz-contest success. He’s a 2-time Georgia state middle school history bee champion and one-time middle school academic bowl team champion. He also qualified for the National Science Bee in 6th grade and finished 6th in his grade nationally.
In the pool, Bolsen is primarily a sprint freestyler with yards bests of 25.10 in the 50 and 55.57 in the 100 at 14 years old. Both meet the USA Swimming “A” motivational time standard.
Looks a little bit like a very young Neil Patrick Harris – i.e., super-genius Doogie Howser in 1989.