Harmony man wins ‘Jeopardy!,’ joins twin brother in winners club
Harmony resident Ron Lalonde joined his brother in the exclusive club of winning “Jeopardy!” in his debut Wednesday night, Dec. 3.
Lalonde, a medical physicist, took home more than $15,000 in what he said felt like a release that had been building for years since his twin brother, Ray Lalonde, went on a winning streak in 2022.
Lalonde winning on the show means he will appear again Thursday, Dec. 4, and on subsequent days until he loses.
“You just have to watch to find out,” Lalonde said.
Lalonde’s show came down to the Final Jeopardy, which he managed to answer correctly while the leading player of the game answered incorrectly. Lalonde bet enough in Final Jeopardy to take first place, netting him $15,201.
Not only did Lalonde get to relive his experience on the show by watching it on TV Wednesday night, but he also got to see other people get excited about his appearance.
He organized for the pub he frequents in Pittsburgh to put “Jeopardy!” on its screens Wednesday, which is the day his trivia team normally competes in trivia there anyway.
The reaction of his trivia teammates to seeing him on the show was a fun rush.
“I got a whole bunch of people there, and at 7:30, I arranged for the pub owner to show the show on the pub (TV) and watch people go crazy,” Lalonde said.
When the game came down to the final question, the reaction in the pub was as exciting to relive as it was when Lalonde won the game while taping the show.
“It was a nail-biter,” Lalonde said.
It took at least three years of applying for Lalonde to finally be selected as a contestant, and his entire life to prepare for it. The twins said they would watch the show with their entire family growing up in Ontario, Canada.
“My brother won 13 games and $400,000 when he was there, so there was a lot of pressure,” he said. “It was really strange because I didn’t feel that nervous in my mind but behind the podium my legs were really shaking.”
Lalonde said after he applied, it took three months for him to hear back that he’d been accepted.
He said some of the most fun moments were meeting host Ken Jennings and meeting the other contestants, despite him being sad when they were eliminated.
