Milwaukee man wins 'Jeopardy!', advances to compete again

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Milwaukeean Micah Fritz will return to "Jeopardy!" after winning on Tuesday night's episode.

"I did pretty great, I was not expecting for things to go the way they went," Fritz said. "I saw the score, saw where things were, and realized like, oh, this is a runaway, and I didn’t expect things to go this way."

"Things just were clicking into place, you just get sucked into the game and don’t pay attention to scores until Final Jeopardy comes up. You do a little bit of math, do math again, and realize what position you're at. It was really just a whirlwind."

You can watch Fritz again Wednesday night at 6 p.m. on CBS 58.

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- A Milwaukeean will compete on "Jeopardy!" this week! 

Micah Fritz will take the stage Tuesday, June 24 -- and you can watch the episode on CBS 58 at 6 p.m. 

In a Facebook post, Fritz said he has been trying to get on the show for 16 years.

"My mom said my whole life has been the study process, just reading over random facts here and there, and having a globe next to my bed I would just pour over," shared Fritz.

Because he had been auditioning for so long, "my parents kind of knew it was coming," Fritz said. "But when I was able to spread the word to other people, they knew I was auditioning so often. There wasn't a whole lot of surprise but a lot of excitement."

An advantage, according to Fritz, was being a high school social studies teacher, as he had just taught lessons on some of the topics in the weeks prior.

From taking the online test to being on set in Los Angeles, the application process took about six months.

"It's been one of my goals for so long to have that next step accomplished was a really big sense of relief," said Fritz.

He said the set itself was smaller than expected, roughly the size of a basketball court with enough space to fit an audience of 100-150 people.

Despite it being a game show, he says there was camaraderie among his fellow contestants.

"It was really fun. All the contestants were so supportive of each other. We were just happy anybody got a question right, nobody - there was no one out there to be cutthroat, everybody was supportive, and you wish everybody could win."

A win, no matter the ending, was meeting the host, Ken Jennings. It's an experience he calls "surreal." 

"He's so good at being a host and adlibbing, adding on to the answers, or on the interview with him. There’s not much written on a card, and he can expand it. Ken’s a great guy," Fritz said. 

Now 41 seasons in, Fritz feels lucky to be a part of "Jeopardy!" history. 

"There is such a great reputation around Jeopardy... being in the studio, having the spirit of Alex Trebek around, who everybody reveres so much, there's a great sense of belonging in that," said Fritz. 

Fritz added that being a teacher helped him feel comfortable in front of a large group, so he says he didn't feel any stage fright.

Best of luck! We'll be watching!