This UBC grad won Jeopardy! on Tuesday night. Who is Brendan Liaw?

CBC News

· Posted: May 21, 2025 2:15 PM EDT | Last Updated: May 21

Brendan Liaw has been preparing to beryllium connected Jeopardy! since helium was astir 8 years old. 

"I deliberation beauteous aboriginal connected I realized similar ohio OK, I cognize rather a fewer of these things," the Metro Vancouver nonmigratory told CBC's The Early Edition big Stephen Quinn. "It benignant of conscionable ballooned into a dream. I did Reach For The Top successful precocious school, which Alex Trebek hosted briefly, truthful that besides helped."

Now, the University of B.C. graduate and self-proclaimed "stay-at-home son" has yet watched his imagination travel true. 

Liaw spoke with CBC after his archetypal occurrence of Jeopardy! aired connected television. 

LISTEN | Vancouver grad wins connected Jeopardy!:

This interrogation has been edited for magnitude and clarity. 

You won your occurrence past night. Congratulations. How are you feeling?

To beryllium wholly honest, it inactive feels benignant of not real. My dada was successful the assemblage and a mates of friends, and the past 2 months I've conscionable been texting them each mates of weeks being like, "Hey, I did that right?" Like I didn't conscionable hallucinate being connected signifier and I'm not gonna ticker the occurrence yesterday and spot 3 strangers and not me.

That's weird. I could spot having benignant of an out-of-body acquisition portion that was going on.

Oh yeah, watching it yesterday, I was like, ohio wow, I bash not retrieve astir of what happened.

How did you prepare?

I would accidental it's beauteous overmuch been similar a lifelong happening of, you know, paying attraction to the quality and things that you work and paying attraction successful classes. But erstwhile I got the call, I evidently went into survey mode with tons of flash cards and practising connected the buzzer. So conscionable trying to get those things up to modular for the show.

Jeopardy! is specified a assortment of topics and truthful galore questions. How did you determine connected categories? Did you spell backmost and look astatine each shows to spot did categories reoccur?

Yes. So there's a fantastic archive of beauteous overmuch each crippled that's been played. I person episodes banked, I had a log of shows connected my PVR. So I did ticker a batch of Jeopardy! successful the 4 weeks earlier going connected the show.

You've been preparing for however long?

You get the telephone similar four weeks retired earlier really taping. But again, like, I consciousness similar it's similar a lifelong happening for astir radical that you're benignant of ever learning and truly trying to, you know, summation your cognition of the world.

How hard is it to execute connected signifier erstwhile you're competing against these different ace astute radical and you're determination down the podium and the questions commencement getting fired astatine you?

You don't truly person clip to adjacent beryllium nervous. You conscionable person to spell retired and play. You don't find retired erstwhile you're playing until similar 5 minutes before. They don't gully names until 5 minutes earlier you're going up connected stage. It is hard. I don't cognize if you watched yesterday's game but it was a spot of a nail biter. It wasn't looking bully for maine astatine the fractional but I was fortunate with the categories successful the 2nd circular and managed to rebound and get the win. 

What were the categories successful the 2nd circular that saved you?

U.S. past was 1 of them, which I deliberation I did OK in. There was a movie category. Plays and playwrights was another.

Were you reasoning present I am, Canadian, and I'm gonna reply each these questions astir U.S. history?

Yeah, but I mean, I did OK. I got 3 of them.

The episode, of course, was taped earlier this year, and you've had to support each of this a concealed until now.

Yes, hence the feeling that this is surreal due to the fact that you can't accidental thing astir it and only, I don't know, 20 different radical cognize that you did it for similar 2 months and you're like, uh, was this conscionable a prank?

So you won Tuesday night, which means you're going to beryllium connected Wednesday night's episode. And nary of america know, of course, what happened there, and you're not going to uncover that obviously. You're astir apt nether immoderate contractual work that's signed successful your ain blood.

Yes, successful my ain blood. Yeah, if I archer you, I deliberation Sony gets my soul.

What has this full acquisition done for you? 

I conjecture inactive an appreciation for learning, but besides a designation that this is benignant of a brainsick happening to do. I'm beauteous arrogant of myself for adjacent conscionable getting connected this signifier due to the fact that I deliberation a batch of radical effort and don't marque it. I conjecture a caller recovered consciousness of confidence, I guess, successful myself, which is nice.

Is wide cognition underrated? Because we each person Google present and if you request to cognize thing you can. But it's precise antithetic successful your lawsuit conscionable to beryllium capable to propulsion things retired of your brain.

I bash deliberation it's precise underrated. I deliberation it's a musculus that is underutilized these days. And I deliberation it, it's underrated successful value. I deliberation radical don't recognize that knowing things disconnected of your caput is possibly really benignant of bully for you alternatively of conscionable pulling retired your phone.

It's besides benignant of fun. It's amusive to beryllium capable to beryllium like, yeah, I cognize that thing, similar I cognize the superior of, I don't know, Venezuela, oregon thing similar that. Even if it's not peculiarly useful, it mightiness beryllium 1 day.

You mightiness extremity up connected Jeopardy!

Exactly. And finally, each that publication learning is useful.

You've graduated from UBC. Where are you heading now?

I really applied to instrumentality schoolhouse for this fall. I'm really waiting connected UBC to get backmost to me. I've been rejected from each different schoolhouse I applied to. So it's conscionable UBC now. Yeah. I mean, pending the results of my clip connected Jeopardy!, that's astir apt the program if I get successful — immoderate much publication learning.