You spend nearly a decade trying to live out your dream of getting on “Jeopardy” and you have to go against a 19-time champion. It’s the tall task which lies ahead for this Latin teacher from Grand Rapids who is a contestant tonight, Friday, December 2, on the game of answers and questions.
31-year old Josh Gregor is a Columbus, Ohio native who has lived in West Michigan the last five years. He moved to Grand Rapids after completing grad school at Indiana University where he received a Masters in Linguistics. Before that, he studied Philosophy in Rome at a pontifical university.
“There’s a thinktank in downtown Grand Rapids called the Acton Institute. I had been there for a couple years, but I always wanted to teach,” Gregor told MLive. “The school that I’m at now had an opening for exactly what I wanted to do, teaching Latin.”
Gregor teaches Latin at Sacred Heart Academy, which is a K-12 school. He teaches 6th and 8th grades along with high school. He will try to dethrone 19-day “Jeopardy” champion,” Cris Pannullo, who has won $666,744.
Gregor says he grew up watching “Jeopardy” with his mother and has been trying for years to get onto the quiz show.
“My mom and I used to watch it together when I was growing up. In 2015, I started taking the online test however often I was able to take it. I never heard anything. Finally this year, I heard back. I’ve always liked trivia. I was on the trivia team when I was in school and that kind of thing.”
Without giving any spoilers of his experience on the show which has already been recorded, Gregor says “it was great. The studio is definitely smaller in person than you see on TV. It’s also interesting to watch because of how the little back and forth parts get edited. It was also fun hanging out with the other contestants who are also trivia-minded people.”
This is the first time Gregor has actually been to California. He says he has traveled to 39 states, now 40, and all over Europe.
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