‘Jeopardy!’ Champ Chris Ban Opens Up About Late Brother After Emotional Win on Show
This… Is… Jeopardy!
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[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for the June 27 episode of Jeopardy!]
Jeopardy! fans were moved to tears during the June 27 episode of the show when contestant Chris Ban said that he planned to donate any winnings he got from competing to a rowing club in honor of his late brother, who died from cancer.
Ban, an oral and facial surgeon from Pennsylvania, was clearly emotional and pointed to heaven as he went on to clinch victory, taking home $13,000 from his debut on the syndicated game show. Fans soon reacted to the touching moment on social media.
Am I the only one who just shed a tear when Chris Ban just won tonight on #Jeopardy ? All done for his late younger brother. 😢 pic.twitter.com/WUwvjQ55iq
— Lil Rush (@LilRushe) June 28, 2023
After the show, Ban opened up about his late brother Michael, who died last year of brain cancer. You can see his online obituary here.
The surgeon, who is affiliated with Pennsylvania’s Heritage Valley Health System in Brighton Township, plans to donate his winnings to the North Allegheny Rowing Association’s boathouse. He is a class of 2001 alumnus of the organization, and his brother was a 2004 alum, according to the association’s Facebook page.
Ban explains his emotional moment on Reddit via a candid story about his brother.
“My brother Michael loved Jeopardy,” he starts off the post. “When we were growing up, we loved the jungle book stories and Rikki Tikki Tavi in particular. When he was sick w brain cancer, he said don’t worry, he was the mongoose that was going to kill this snake. I got him an artist’s rendering of a mongoose killing a snake to hang in his bathroom that I have now in the same place in my house.”
Ban continued, “Every morning of his chemo or radiation treatments I would send him a picture of a mongoose killing a snake over text. When it became clear he wasn’t going to kill the snake in the “conventional” sense, he won and still killed it by facing the end with dignity and class.”
He went on to explain how his late brother helped him during the game. “When I was down in the first round I looked up and said “hey man, I could use a little help here.” This probably didn’t show on tv. It may be just be beautifully poetic instead of supernatural, but he showed up. As soon as I read that final jeopardy answer I said: bingo. Kipling. I crossed out Rudyard bc I was so nervous that I’d maybe spelled it wrong.”
He explains, “that’s why I was so emotional at the end.”
He also confirmed, “the high school has already said if and when the boathouse is built, it will be the Michael McNaughton Ban Memorial Boathouse. Built by Jeopardy!”
Ban returned to compete on the June 28 show against lawyer Vic Goel from Virginia, and a senior regulatory compliance analyst, Bryan White, from California.
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