Brayden Smith, of Las Vegas, was 24 years old when he died on February 5. The family did not release the cause of death.
“We are so grateful that Brayden managed to live his dream on @jeopardy,” Smith’s mother, Debbie, posted on Twitter Friday morning.
Smith won $ 117,798 in the program, his last appearance in the last week of Alex Trebek on the air. The performances were recorded in October, and Trebek died of pancreatic cancer on November 8.
Smith’s six episodes aired between December 15-18 and January 5-6.
“I’m very grateful for everything, for all the opportunities I’ve had,” he said in a video posted on the Jeopardy website. “I’m just glad I was able to do it and I’m glad I was able to show what I was capable of.”
Smith was an intern at the Cato Institute in Washington, according to the obituary his family provided to the Las Vegas Review-Journal and had planned to pursue law school to become a government lawyer.
“He was a voracious and self-taught reader, a lover of knowledge and an advocate of justice,” the obituary wrote.
Smith graduated in 2020 from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
“It was kind, funny and absolutely brilliant,” the producers of “Jeopardy!” posted on Friday. “The deepest condolences are sent to Brayden’s family.”
In the video about the time spent in the show, Smith said that he is looking forward to participating in a Jeopardy champions tournament.
“The Champions Tournament has been my favorite tournament every year since I was a kid,” he said. “These people are some of my trivia idols.”