Current “Jeopardy!” champion Harvey Silikovitz had a yearslong journey to making it on the beloved quiz show — including a missed voicemail from producers in 2019, months before he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.
Silikovitz, an attorney and “worldwide karaoke singer” originally from New Jersey, appeared on the March 10 episode, in which he upended reigning champ Laura Faddah’s eight-day winning streak.
He told the show’s host Ken Jennings about how long he had been trying to have a chance to play on the show.
“It’s been a longtime dream of mine to get here,” Silikovitz said. “In 2019, I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s, but I continued chasing the dream, and now here I am.”
Jennings congratulated Silikovitz, who would later take home $23,200.
“I wouldn’t recommend that as a preparation strategy for doing well on the show,” Silikovitz continued as the audience laughed. “But after living with Parkinson’s for five and a half years, it’s no longer just about wanting to do well for myself. I would like to give hope and inspiration to the people who are living with chronic illnesses.”
He shared more about what led him to the show in a March 8 post on Instagram — starting with his love of travel, so he can learn more about the world.
“That same voracious curiosity led me to become immersed in the world of trivia,” he wrote in the caption. “While I believe that knowing stuff is an intrinsic good, I also enjoy testing my knowledge in trivia competitions of various kinds.”
He shared that he always wanted to test his skills on “Jeopardy!” and that he had tried for years to become a contestant on the show.
“I persevered in that quest even after setbacks — like that time in March 2019 when I missed a voice-mail from a senior casting producer that, had I returned the call, would have led to my becoming a contestant a few weeks later,” he said. “By the time I finally heard the VM, taping for the season had wrapped.”
A few months later, Silikovitz was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, a brain disorder that causes unintended and uncontrollable movements, according to the National Institutes of Health.
“But I refused to let that diagnosis deter me from following my long-held dream,” he said. “I worked hard to manage my Parkinson’s symptoms — even while relentlessly seeking to improve my knowledge base as well as my proficiency at the skills, such as timing on the buzzer, that are crucial to success on J!”
And in late January 2025, his dream came true when he flew out to Culver City, California, to film the episode that would air on March 10.
“So how did I do? Can a person with Parkinson’s be competitive in the rigorous crucible of a ‘Jeopardy!’ game? To add to the intrigue, the returning champion who was one of my 2 opponents had won her first 8 games,” he said. “Did I become another of her victims? Did I put an end to her streak? Or did the third player take down both of us? Tune in on Monday to find out!”
And as TODAY’s Jenna Bush Hager said, Silikovitz didn’t just compete — he won “in a big way,” she said on TODAY’s Morning Boost on March 11.
“He landed more than $23,000, and landed a lot of hearts, right?” she said.
Silikovitz will have the chance to defend his title in the episode airing on March 11.
