A JEOPARDY! fan has shared rare photos and a jaw-dropping piece of trivia about Mattea Roach.
The 24-year-old -who nearly beat James Holzhauer in May's Jeopardy! Masters tournament - is both down to earth, and apparently quite tall.
Mattea stopped by for a Q&A at Cape Breton University in Nova Scotia, Canada, over the weekend.
The fifth-winningest Jeopardy! contestant ever - who is non-binary and goes by the pronouns they/them- went on their initial 23-game run in 2022.
Mattea sweetly opted to hold a reception afterwards, posing and chatted with a student who recounted the experience on Reddit.
Mattea wore a houndstooth blazer, giant hoop earrings and a mod turtleneck as they towered over the nervous fan.
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The fan captioned their post: "Just met Mattea!!!"
"Mattea did a Q&A / little sit-down talk at a local university, and they were incredible!!
"I literally could’ve sat there and listened to them talk all night. they had a little reception after, and they were the nicest person.
"I’m really hoping they come back again because I very much enjoyed it!
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'MATTEA IS TALL!?'
Other fans buzzed in to the internet post wondering what the deal was because Mattea looked much taller than the college student.
Someone asked: "Are they tall or are you petite?"
The fan responded: "I’m about 5’5 ish but I was super shocked with how tall they were! I’d say probably 5’10 at least!!"
Another person was stunned: "THEYRE TALL?!?!"- "VERY!" the user responded.
The college student then went into detail about what they talked about.
"I was not prepared AT ALL. I had no idea what to say.
"I just went up stared at them and went on some spiel about how it’s so cool to have someone so young involved in this part of the media as a member of the LGBTQIA+ community.
"I was STRESSED, but they’re so welcoming!"
'MAN, I'D LOVE TO MEET THEM!'
Other fans wrote how much Mattea means to them and were a bit jealous, since the queer, tattoo music-loving Master is just so cool.
Another comment read: "Man, I'd love to meet them and tell them that they inspire me as a trans man. I like being able to see transgender, non-binary, etc. people on TV, and so see real ones on live TV (as opposed to a cartoon character) is great."
Someone else wrote: "Same here! My son is trans and was all about Mattea, Amy [Schneider], and Hannah [Wilson] during their appearances on the show. He felt really affirmed by seeing their success and acceptance.
(I know there have been other LGBTQ contestants, like Rowan, but those three are the ones my son saw.)"
Yet another fan wrote: "I run a weekly poetry show in a room in the back of a bar in Toronto, and had a show the night Mattea was doing the tournament of champions.
"I was disappointed to be missing Mattea's game and spent the night texting the husband for updates. Then an audience member said, by the way some Jeopardy person's watching Jeopardy at the front of the bar.... and turned out it was Mattea watching their game!"
ALMOST WINNING JEOPARDY MASTERS
After Mattea's major 2022 winning streak (making them a super-champion with 10+ wins) they've appeared on the game show two other times.
After faring so-so in last year's Tournament of Champions, they wowed fans on Jeopardy! Masters in the spring.
They lost to the formidable James Holzhauer by the thinnest of margins in a fierce finale.
Mattea wound up with 41685 points to James' 43275 points, and Mattea was leading up until the very last question.
The 32-time winner and pro sports gambler was pushed to the brink, all while Mattea was reeling from the sudden loss of their father in their family home while filming.
James won $500,000, Mattea went home with $250,000 for second place, and Matt Amodio $150,000 for placing third.
All three were also guaranteed slots for the six-champ special next year.
James whispered, "Your dad would be so proud of you" and went over and hugged Mattea when declared the champion.
PAINFUL LOSS
Phillip Henry Roach died of a brain aneurysm on May 2, 2023 at their family home in Canada while Mattea was "at the set of Jeopardy!."
Mattea tearfully revealed the loss on stage saying at one point they were dedicating their performance to him.
"My dad passed away at the start of the month very suddenly. He’s a huge part of the reason why I’m here."
"He and my mom instilled an early love of geography in me. My dad taught me all about Turner Classic Movies and old movies."
"So I wanted to recognize the impact he had on my life."
"And also recognize, I was actually here at the set when my dad died."
James tweeted after winning the title: "Mattea’s performance would have been unbelievable in the best of times.
Considering everything they went through this month, this was the gutsiest Jeopardy! achievement since Cindy Stowell’s [who won the 2016 ToC but died of cancer before it aired].
An absolute, star-making masterclass in how to play the game.
"I’m lucky the scores were even this close entering Final. I benefited from more luck in the end. But no one will forget Mattea’s #JeopardyMasters dominance."
MATTEA'S MONEY MOVES
Mattea graduated from the University of Toronto with a bachelor's degree in sexual diversity studies, political science, and women and gender studies.
The Gen-Z, Canadian-born contestant now hosts a podcast called The Backbench and still lives in Toronto, near their hometown of Halifax Nova Scotia.
They were a mere 23 years old and worked as a tutor for law students when they first appeared in April 2022.
Mattea won their first game on April 15, 2022, and exclaimed "all my student loans are paid off!" setting the tone for an unconventional yet quite captivating streak.
Critics knocked their stage presence, seeing them openly voice their wager strategy and chat between clues.
One particularly memorable moment saw Mattea say with a signature wrist-flick, "I should have wagered more" after getting a Daily Double.
But as more wins came, so did the popularity - and there were some unforgettable games during their run.
One saw the champ answer Final Jeopardy alone on the stage with just Ken Jennings due to a technicality.
The other two entered Final Jeopardy with negative scores, so they didn't even compete.
"Has that ever happened before?" one fan wondered on Twitter at the time.
Mattea's on-stage Q&A stories were also often the talk of the episode.
They revealed they once sang backup in a music video with the legendary musician of "Rick Roll" fame Rick Astley.
During another Q&A, they also revealed to have seven tattoos including two on their thighs dedicated to the band The Talking Heads.
Another game saw Mattea win by the amount ultimately losing by; $1.
Mattea's 23 wins give them the sixth-highest regular gameplay earnings ever and the fifth-longest streak ever.
Mattea's second stint was the 2022 Tournament of Champions but they were summarily eliminated by Andrew He.
That said, their $250,000 Masters win puts them around $810,000 of overall winnings.
'NEVER PRACTICED'
Jeopardy!'s boss recently corroborated a jaw-dropping tidbit about Mattea; they went into Masters and have always gone into Jeopardy! almost completely cold.
"Mattea spends zero time, and has spent zero time ever practicing for this show."
"They don't learn trivia, they dont read trivia books, they dont sit on the floor in the children's book department like James [Holzhauer- who famously studied children’s general knowledge books].
"Everything they know is from reading, sitting in front of the TV, reading newspapers, and being in front of intelligent people."
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Davies lauded: "Mr. and Mrs. Roach were so involved in that, and get so much credit in their broad liberal arts education."
"It just shows their potential," Davies added.
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