His Jeopardy dream is over, but Prince George student has no regrets

Prince George’s Matthew Church saw his Jeopardy run come to an end tonight, capping a three-night experience he’ll never forget.

“I greatly exceeded my expectation, which was simply to have fun,” said Church after departing the hit quiz show Wednesday after two straight wins.

“Instead I won $31,000 and became a two-time Jeopardy champion.”

For three days, he was introduced to millions around the world as “a medical student from Prince George, British Columbia, Canada,” and he got to speak to host (and fellow Canadian) Alex Trebek about each facet of that.

On Monday, they talked about his choice to go to Queen’s Medical School. On Tuesday, why he was the youngest person to be nominated for Prince George’s Citizen of the Year. And on Wednesday, he talked about travelling from Vancouver to Toronto on Via Rail’s “The Canadian.”

He says it wasn’t by design.

“I hope it comes across though how grateful I am to people in Prince George, in BC and Canada for helping me get ready.”

His wins Monday and Tuesday gave him 15 minutes of fame in Prince George, where he was on the front page of the Prince George Citizen two days in a row.

“It’s been amazing, nothing like I’ve ever experienced before. Many, many people stopped me on the street for a picture. It’s great to be the hometown hero.”

But it came to an end tonight. In second place with $10,800 heading into Final Jeopardy, he faced a question on Children’s Literature where the answer was “Charlotte” of Charlotte’s Web fame.

He got the question wrong, and now waits to collect a cheque for $31,000 – minus taxes – in the coming months. For now, he can only look back at his journey – one that began in January by taking an online test with 250,000 others – with amazement.

“I really hope I’ve inspired people to figure out what they’re good at and do that a really high level.”