Talk about a comeback king. Drew Goins is officially one of Jeopardy!‘s 2025 Second Chance champions!
Goins admitted to TV Insider that at the end of the first of the two-game finals, he was getting “absolutely dog-walked,” as his younger brother, Zach, phrased it. “I went back into the green room in between the games as we were changing, and I said, ‘Well, congratulations, Enzo. Good luck in Champions Wildcard whatever, whatever.’ It took a real ‘what do I have to lose?’ mentality going into the second game to make up that ground. It’s only because I just kind of went full send that I was able to pull it off.”
And he did just that. Entering Final Jeopardy, the fan favorite led the pack with 18,400 against Sam Cameron’s 16,600 and Enzo Cunanan’s 3,000. The category for the round was “Notable Americans,” with the clue reading, “Saying he fell in love with his country while a prisoner in someone else’s, he dedicated the rest of his life to public service.” The correct response was, “Who was John McCain?”
Goins and Cunanan were the only players to offer the correct response, raising their scores to 31,601 and 5,999, respectively, while Cameron dropped to 8,799. After their Day 2 scores were combined with Day 1, Goins was victorious with 36,301 against Cunanan’s 27,799 and Sam’s 12,199. Ultimately, Goins scored $35,000 in real money as he advanced to the Champions Wildcard.
Below, Goins opens up to TV Insider about what he did with his prize money, playing bar trivia after winning, and the person who is “first in my Jeopardy! heart.”
How did you react when you realized you’d won?
Drew Goins: Once the correct answer was revealed, and I knew I had it right, I kind of entered this liminal space of, I think something very, very good is about to happen. But what if my math is wrong? What if there’s a misspelling or something? What if I somehow screwed it up? Those were the most tense 15 seconds of my life. I felt like I was not breathing. And then suddenly it’s, “Drew, you’re the winner of the Second Chance competition. Can we get 15,000 photos of you? We’re whisking you off stage to go record a podcast. You don’t get to say hi to your family yet.” It felt like the Mr. Krabs meme of him spiraling in a good way, though. Positive trauma. It was truly just beyond my wildest, wildest dreams.
Who was the first person from your family you spoke to after you won?
I think it was my brother. My boyfriend has been incredible, but my brother has been… I grew up watching Jeopardy! with him. He’s been making me the practice boards. Before every game, he had practice boards for me. He has been rooting me on from the start since we were six and eight. He’s first in my Jeopardy! heart.
Did you have any plans for your prize money?
I took a trip to Mexico. Once Jeopardy! was over, I booked a flight and just laid on a beach to not think for a few days. I did that on the cheap. I was like, I don’t want to spend down this money entirely. But I did a little modest vacation in Mexico. I have paid off some student loans, which financed all the knowledge I needed for Jeopardy! so that feels like closing the circle a little bit. The rest of it, I think I’m saving it for a rainy day. YouTube TV is expensive, though. That’s the only place to stream Jeopardy! at the moment, so I’ll be using some of my Jeopardy! winnings to continue to be able to watch Jeopardy!.
How did you feel mentally coming into the Second Chance tournament?
It’s a different mindset, and it is crazy because I felt more confident in myself, but I also felt commensurately more intimidated by the other players because these are all people who are fierce competitors. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have been brought back for Second Chance. I think my self-confidence edged out just a teeny bit of the intimidation factor because I’d done so much studying and also because I told myself, “Drew, you didn’t believe in yourself enough the first time. You’ve just got to believe in yourself this time.” But mostly, it was just elation more than anything else, and being able to get back up there and step on the stage again. Every little element of it I savored the second time, like writing your name on the teleprompter, taking a second during the commercial breaks and looking up at the set dressing and the board and the audience and being like, wow, I’m really here. The first time is such a blur. When you go on Jeopardy! and play just one game, it’s like you’re in a dissociative state. It’s just like a fugue state the entire time. The second time, it’s like with skydiving, right? Everyone says you don’t remember anything from your first skydive, and the second one is the one where you really, really enjoy it and remember everything and just cherish that one.
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Did you become friends or associates with any of your competitors?
We all exchanged contact information. At the end of the tape day, we went out and played trivia together. We found a bar trivia and were like this super team of Jeopardy! competitors. We won bar trivia, of course, and everyone was so nice. The people I played against were just absolutely so wonderful. We all share this love of learning and trivia, and everyone feels like a nerd. When you put a bunch of nerds together who are just doing their favorite thing in the world, they’re bound to become friends. On top of that, everyone was just so grateful to be back there for a second chance. There are no egos in the room when everybody’s a loser, right? At one point, Ken was like, “Well, we brought back the best of the best.” And I’m like, technically, this is the best of the worst, actually. But it builds a ton of camaraderie to be in that group in particular.
What has this experience meant to you?
I’m really proud of myself, especially having come from the loss originally. I was proud of myself after that, too, for trying, but there’s nothing quite like the pride of getting up and trying again, right? Even if I’d lost the first Second Chance game, I’d feel just as proud for going back and just doing it. As much as super champs are celebrated and everything and you love to see a crazy journey, it’s not so much about winning as just the value that you give to going out and doing it. The fact that people value the spirit of Jeopardy! so much and just learning and curiosity… you don’t win at being curious, right? You are curious because that’s an end into itself, right? So that’s just exciting to take part in a celebration of being a person who loves to learn, which is a contest only against yourself that never ends. You can always learn more, and it’s always going to be fulfilling.
Who was your Jeopardy! idol growing up?
Ken, for sure. I wish there was a more interesting answer than that, but I watched his original run. I saw him lose in real-time. I was devastated. We were on a family beach vacation. And then, Alex [Trebek], of course. Beyond Ken, beyond Alex, the people I was most jealous of growing up watching Jeopardy! was the Clue Crew. It was like Jimmy [McGuire] and Sarah [Whitcomb Foss], who would occasionally go out to go hot air ballooning for a video category about hot air balloons. Or they’d go into the Sahara for a category about deserts and stuff, so if the Clue Crew ever comes back, I will say I’m right here.
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