Tanya Iyer, a 2019 Naperville North grad, expanded her passion for trivia through various NNHS activities, which prepared her to go on this season of “Jeopardy!”. While at North, Iyer was the captain of the Scholastic team and the Editorials Editor of The North Star, which aided her enthusiasm for learning new things.
“I’ve always been a bit of an insufferable trivia nerd, so I decided to audition for “Jeopardy!” and have auditioned every year since,” said Iyer.
Having aired on Friday, March 27th, 2026, viewers tuned into Iyer, a New York investment banker, in her competition against Canadian Research Analyst, Brent Wilson, and Jamie Ding, returning champion on ABC channel 7 at 3:30 p.m. or on Hulu and Peacock. To qualify for this experience, Iyer passed an initial screening test and practice rounds before the official show began. She wagered all of her $6,200 on the final jeopardy and lost it all, ending with $0.
She approached “Jeopardy!” with a strategy passed down from an NNHS grad and “Jeopardy!” Hall of Famer, James Holzhauer. He told Iyer, when she interviewed him years ago for a North Star feature, that he read children’s books with fun facts because they explain things in simpler terms that are easier to build off of. In addition, Iyer explained how her preparation went beyond trivia.
“I think having that adrenaline and really preparing for this moment for so long just made it feel a lot less intimidating, because I knew what was coming,” Iyer said.
The show left her with memories and moments she won’t ever forget. She remembered the moment that they started filming and how surreal it was to be standing on the set. “Jeopardy!” helped her embrace exploration and being able to discover new topics or ideas, which is something she does in her day-to-day life.
“…I think whether it’s something like ‘Jeopardy!’ or something like the North Star, it’s all about just that spirit of curiosity. And I think everybody has that in them,” Iyer said.
