Page 2: Larissa Kelly

Dan Melia in 2005 at the Jeopardy Ultimate
Tournament of Champions

Comments from Daniel Melia:

“I watched all of Larissa's shows and was most impressed by her ability to stay focused (the game goes by so fast that if you space out for 90 seconds you are doomed), her excellent buzzer ("signaling device") technique (if you buzz in before the — invisible to TV audience — warning lights go on, you are locked out for 1/5th of a second; if you tie with another buzzer you are both locked out for 1/5th of a second, etc.) and her ability to 'control the adrenaline' as athletes say.

“Since they tape five shows a day in real time, it's very hard to play well over and over with only short breaks, which is the champion's disadvantage. The champion's advantage is more practice with the buzzer and, usually, fewer butterflies as you go along. I think that when Larissa lost, it was because she sort of ran out of the psychic energy to crush her opponents (compare Ken Jennings's final game where he seemed a little detached and lost to a much weaker player.)”

Dan Melia's car
Melia, ten years after winning it on the show, is still driving his prize Corvette,
with its distinctive personalized plates.

Hungry for more insider tips and trivia? Take a look at the recent book Prisoner of Trebekistan, by eight-time Jeopardy winner (and TV writer and former standup comic) Bob Harris. (The same Bob Harris who officiated at Melia’s wedding. At one point in the book Harris says, "I realized that I would have to play Dan Melia, a Berkeley professor who had actually read all the books I had memorized the titles of." )

There’s one more known coincidence. While Larissa Kelly has never met Berkeley’s other (non-spousal) Jeopardy contestants, it turns out her husband Jeff in the spring of 2003 took a Celtic Studies course in Old and Middle Irish. Who taught it? Dan Melia.

— Dick Cortén

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