Colby Burnett

Colby Burnett is the first Jeopardy! contestant to have won both the Teachers Tournament and the ToC. He is the second ToC winner from another tournament in history, following College Tournament Winner Tom Cubbage who won the 1989 ToC. Burnett, who at the time was a teacher at Fenwick High School in Oak Park, Illinois.

Education

Burnett graduated from Fenwick High School. He then got his BA from Northwestern University, double majoring in History and Political Science. Then, he earned his MEd in Reading Teacher Education from Dominican University.

Early life

Burnett grew up in the Austin neighborhood of Chicago. He credits his mother for keeping him out of trouble and enhancing his intellect by buying him an encyclopedia, which he read from cover to cover. After winning Jeopardy!, Burnett bought his mom a new home in a better area of Chicago. When asked what the greatest accomplishment of his life was, the Jeopardy! champion stated, "knowing a duke of Sealand."

Jeopardy! Run

Teachers Tournament

In the first quarterfinal game, he faced off against Michael Farabaugh and Diana North. Throughout the first two rounds, he came up with 24/27 correct responses (including 2/2 Daily Doubles). He and Michael got Final correct. Colby advanced to the semifinals. Michael advanced to the semifinals via wildcard with his $18,000, while Diana's $10,000 was not enough taking home $5,000.

In the third semifinal game, he faced off against Drew Joanides and Brenton Montie. Throughout the first two rounds, he came up with 23/27 correct responses (including 0/1 Daily Double). He was the only player correct in Final and advanced to the finals. Drew and Brenton received $10,000.

In the finals, he faced off against Kate Wilson and Michael Farabaugh. Throughout the finals, he came up with a combined 38/39 correct responses (including 1/1 Daily Double). He got Final incorrect in both games, but won $100,000 via runaway.

Tournament of Champions

In the second quarterfinal game, he faced off against Joel Pool and David Menchaca. Throughout the first two rounds, he came up with 20/21 correct responses (including 1/2 Daily Doubles). He was the only player correct in Final and advanced to the semifinals. Menchaca and Joel received $5,000 as their scores $0 ($5,800) and $11,600 were not enough to advance.

In the second semifinal game, he faced off against Dan McShane and Stephanie Jass. Throughout the first two rounds, he came up with 22/22 correct responses (including 2/2 Daily Doubles). He was the only player correct in Final and advanced to the finals. Dan and Stephanie received $10,000.

In the finals, he faced off against Kristin Morgan and Keith Whitener. Throughout the finals, he came up with a combined 42/47 correct responses (including 1/2 Daily Doubles). He was the only player correct in Final in both games and won $250,000.

Battle of the Decades

He appeared on The 2000s preliminary first game against Celeste DiNucci and Tom Nissley. Throughout the first two rounds, he came up with 18/19 correct responses (including 2/2 Daily Doubles). He and Celeste got Final incorrect. However, Colby made a small wager and advanced to the quarterfinals. Celeste and Tom received $5,000.

In the fifth quarterfinal game, he faced off against Chuck Forrest and Mark Dawson. Throughout the first two rounds, he came up with 11/13 correct responses (including 1/2 Daily Doubles). Nobody got Final correct, but after losing to Chuck, his $11,000 was enough to advance as wildcard, while Mark's $8,600 was not enough, taking home $10,000.

In the third semifinal game, he faced off against Roger Craig and Pam Mueller. Throughout the first two rounds, he came up with 16/17 correct responses (including 0/1 Daily Double). Nobody got Final correct, but after losing to Roger, he and Pam received $25,000.

All Star Games

He played in Team Colby with Pam Mueller and Alan Lin. They faced off against Team Buzzy and Team Brad. Throughout the first two rounds, they came up with 25/27 correct responses. They were the only team who got 1/2 Final Jeopardy correct, but after losing to Team Brad, they and Team Buzzy advanced to the wildcard match with their scores $26,200 and $21,800.

In the wildcard match, they faced off against Team Buzzy and Team Austin. Throughout the match, they came up with 31/35 correct responses (including 2/2 Daily Doubles). All teams got 0/2 Final correct. Team Colby advanced to the finals while Team Buzzy and Team Austin received $75,000.

In the finals, they faced off against Team Ken and Team Brad. Throughout the finals, they came up with 18/19 correct responses. All teams got Final correct in both games, but after losing to Team Brad (in a runaway game), they received $100,000 for second runner-up.

Invitational Tournament

In the ninth quarterfinal game, he faced off against Lilly Chin and Sam Buttrey. Throughout the first two rounds, he came up with 15/17 correct responses (including 1/1 Daily Double). He and Lilly got Final incorrect, but after losing to Sam, they both received $5,000.

Other Shows

• In 2015, he appeared on the third season of TBS's reality game show King of the Nerds and reached 7th place.
• In 2016, he appeared as a challenger on ABC's 500 Questions on May 28, 2016. He was unable to eliminate S22 2-time champion William Lee, who defeated 3-time champ and 2006 ToC winner Michael Falk in regular games in the same season.

Common with Other Champions

Francois Barcomb

• Both won the Teachers Tournament final in a runaway.
• Both champions who competed between tournaments made it to the ToC. In Colby's case, Paul Nelson, who defeated 7-win champ Keith Whitener, won 5 in a row to advance to the ToC, and in Francois' case, Emma Boettcher defeated James Holzhauer, who had won 32, to advance to the ToC by winning 3 in a row.
• Both of them have defeated the seven-time champion in ToC. Francois in the Quarterfinal and Colby in the Semifinals.
• Both of them competed against two men in the preliminary round before reaching the ToC final, and one man and one woman in the semifinals.
• The opponents who made it to the ToC final had previously competed together. Of these, Keith Whitener became the first champion to play a two-man rematch in the ToC, as he battled Kristin Morgan in the qualifying round.

Trivia

• As mentioned above, he is the second tournament winner to win the ToC in history, and it is the sixth record even if the scope is extended to the finalists. Later, S35 Teacher Tournament winner Francois Barcomb made it to the final at the next season's ToC, becoming the 7th all-time other Tournament winner to finish third.
• After Robin Carroll (S16), Michael Falk (S22), and Vijay Balse (S26), he is the fourth player in history to win the ToC season.
• Then at the ToC, Ben Ingram, who participated in the same season (S29), won, making it one of three cases to produce two ToC winners in one season. The other two cases are S22: Michael Falk (S22) and Celeste DiNucci (S24) and S35: James Holzhauer (S36) and Sam Kavanaugh (S37).
• S32 ToC winner Alex Jacob is from the same hometown.