Five times “Jeopardy!” Champion Brayden Smith died unexpectedly, his mother said in a tweet Friday.
Smith, 24, was praised online as “Alex’s Last Great Champion” and was one of the final contestants to appear on the show with host Alex Trebek before he died of pancreatic cancer in November.
“He was kind, funny and absolutely brilliant,” the show said on Twitter on Friday. “The deepest condolences are conveyed to Brayden’s family. He will be missed.”
In a video posted by “Jeopardy!” earlier this year, Smith reflected in his five-day series with the show. “I just wanted to stay there as long as possible. It’s really a great feeling to be on the set, to be around warm, smart people and to be around Alex, who was kind of pillar in my life, “he said. .
Smith, a 2020 graduate of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, worked as an intern at the Cato Institute in Washington, DC, where he researched criminal justice reform issues, according to an obituary provided to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “He was a voracious, self-taught reader, a lover of knowledge, and an advocate of justice. His room was full of books on political science, philosophy, economics, and history,” the obituary said.
His obituary said that he played the saxophone and enjoyed musicians such as Duke Ellington and Steely Dan and that he was a fan of classical and not so classical films. “It could explain the symbolism in Citizen Kane at one point and the comedy moment in Dumb and Dumber in the next,” the obituary said.
Smith was expected to compete in the Champions League tournament. He said in a video posted by the show, “‘Jeopardy!’ it’s much better than I could have imagined. Every moment since I was last in the studio was a moment when I wanted to go back there. “
“I am very grateful for everything, for all the opportunities I have had,” he said. “I’m just glad I was able to do it and I’m glad I was able to show what I was capable of.”
Her mother, Debbie Smith, said on Twitter on Friday that she was grateful that her son had managed to live his dream on Jeopardy. “The outpouring of love for Brayden is overwhelming. We can’t express how much your beautiful comments comforted us in this painfully sad time,” she said.