Mack Brown is no longer the only one in his family with a championship. Brown’s daughter, Katherine Ryan, won $22,801 on Jeopardy! on Friday night and will get to appear again as defending champion next week.
While her Hall of Fame coach father didn’t spoil the result, he made sure that everyone was aware that she’d be on the show.
“Everybody make sure to watch Jeopardy on Friday,” he tweeted, “when our brilliant daughter will be on the show. How cool is that? So excited for her.”
At his mid-week press conference, he again hyped his daughter’s appearance, saying, “We need everyone to watch and pull for her. All of these parents can pull for their kids in sports, I can pull for mine in Jeopardy! I’m not smart enough to be on Jeopardy! I’m glad she is. I’m pulling for Katherine.”
Brown said he helped his daughter prepare for the show “the same way I help great players—great job, sweetheart!” as he clapped his hands.
She did put in prep work before her appearance, however.
“She would go off to a hotel for a couple of days by herself and her husband and children would be at home,” Brown said. “They just give you a group of different things that you might get asked about and she just tries to go back and study all of those.”
The show was pre-taped and was one of the last episodes featuring host Alex Trebek, who died in November of pancreatic cancer.
“It’s amazing to me, I’m so proud — very few people get chosen for that show,” Brown said. “And she’ll do a good job… but I haven’t been able to help her. Even worse, she knew not to ask, which is kind of bad, but it’s true.”
An online site devoted to statistical analysis of the show gives Ryan a 47.8 percent chance to defender her title, a 22.8 percent shot at winning three games and a 2.5 percent chance to win six.
