Though billed as being a “customer support team lead from Burbank, California”, current three-time defending Jeopardy! champion Isaac Hirsch was born and raised in Montgomery County, Maryland.
The three-time champion (as of now) is from Ashton, Maryland and graduated from Blake High School in 2010. He went on to study history at the University of Maryland as part of the Class of 2014. After college, he worked as a barista in Olney and later moved to Los Angeles in 2016.
Hirsch has cumulative winnings of $70,186 after claiming victory on July 3rd ($19,185), July 4th ($47,986), and July 5th ($22,200). He will return on Monday, July 8th to defend his championship.
Jeopardy host Ken Jennings brought up a story regarding Hirsch’s vehicle making a cameo on the television show Brooklyn Nine-Nine, “You’re now a familiar face on TV, Isaac, but I understand your car was famous before you were.”
“I was not booked to appear. I don’t appear on the sitcom at all but you can see my car very clearly and people from my hometown messaged me, ‘We saw your car!’ So I’m basically famous.”, Hirsch replied. The people from his hometown were, presumably, from right here in Montgomery County.
Isaac isn’t a stranger to game shows. Prior to competing on Jeopardy!, he was on The Chase. The Chase is described as a “heart-racing quiz show where three competitors face off against the Chaser, a ruthless quiz genius determined to stop them from winning cash prizes.” Isaac and his team defeated Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions winner Buzzy Cohen on The Chase to earn $140,000 as a team.
Featured photo courtesy of Isaac Hirsch on Instagram (@IBHirsch)