‘Stay-at-home son’ from Metro Vancouver wins big on ‘Jeopardy!’

A B.C. man who has wanted to be on 'Jeopardy!' since he was a little boy not only made it onto the show, but won his first episode.

Since he was a little boy, Brendan Liaw has wanted to be a contestant on Jeopardy!

“Very early on, I realized that I was getting quite a few of the answers,” said Liaw. “And so it quickly became a lifelong goal.”

He was a member of a trivia team in high school, and has a knack for memorizing information. After two 50-question online tests, a mock game and an interview, the 27-year-old from Richmond was chosen to be a Jeopardy! contestant. He flew to Los Angeles and taped his first episode on March 17.

Liaw has a master’s degree from UBC, but thought that description sounded boring. So, when it came time to talk to host Ken Jennings, he discussed the title he chose for himself on the show: stay-at-home son.

“I figure, you know, if I lose, I might as well make some people laugh,” said Liaw. “I think it’s good to be fun and not just, you know, serious trivia guy. So that was my reasoning behind the title.”

After falling behind early, the stay-at-home son ended up winning his first game– which aired on Tuesday night – taking home US$13,599.

“You don’t really have time to be nervous. You don’t have time to really think things through. You’re just buzzing in and trying to get as many as you can, and hope that it’s enough to get you through to a win,” Liaw said.

As for how his parents feel about the stay-at-home son moniker?

“I think they prefer professional loiterer at this point,” Liaw joked. “The stay is getting a little too much. I think they want to promote me to away-from-home son soon. But we’ll see how the games turn out.”

While he can’t reveal how many times he won on Jeopardy!, Liaw can confirm he is still a stay-at-home son.

“I have not found employment since taping. So if there’s anyone out there who wants to hire a guy who’s mildly amusing and has broad-based knowledge, please contact me. I’m looking for gainful employment,” he said with a grin.

While he hasn’t gotten any job offers yet, Liaw now has plenty of fans.

“I’m really like heartened by all the support. I didn’t realize people cared that much about Jeopardy! I’ve gotten a lot of well-wishes from strangers on the internet, and it feels good,” said Liaw. “And hopefully, I can do the city proud.”