‘Jeopardy!’: Dargan Ware Addresses Where He Went Wrong After Wildcard Loss

Brittany Sims January 6, 2026, 2:28 pm

'Jeopardy!' contestant Dargan Ware on Champions Wildcard, January 5, 2026 — Jeopardy!/Sony

Dargan Ware, 49, fulfilled his lifelong dream of being on Jeopardy! when he competed on the game show in 2025 and then again on the Champion Wildcard in January. Ware did not advance to the semi-finals in the tournament after he lost on Monday night. Now he is explaining when he think he went wrong on show that led to his exit.

In October, Ware, from Bessemer, Alabama, won two games and competed in three, giving him a total of $47,801. He then came back and competed in the first game of the Champions Wildcard on January 5 against Stella Trout and Bill McKinney, ending with $2,200.

The Jeopardy! champion spoke to AL about his love for the game show and how he was “over-confident” going into the tournament. His Jeopardy! journey started when he was 12 years old. His grandmother paid him to read encyclopedias. “I read all the encyclopedias, and I started getting into playing trivia and watching Jeopardy! and I knew by the time I was 15 that I wanted to do it,” Ware told the outlet.

The champion watched Jeopardy! all his life, participated in quiz bowls in school, and joined local trivia groups as he got older.

Ware first tried out for Jeopardy! in 1996 when he wanted to compete on the college edition while attending the University of Arkansas. Although he didn’t make it on then, he continued his dream while attending the University of Alabama for Law school.

Ware had taken the tests 25 times, passing six of those times, and tried out in person twice — once in Nashville and once in Memphis — but never got a callback. “I honestly thought they were never gonna pick me,” he told the outlet. “But I kept trying, and I’m glad I did.”

30 years later, he finally got the call and started to prep right away. He read through the show’s archives, watched old episodes, made flashcards, and practiced with family and friends.

The lawyer shared where he went wrong during the Champions Wildcard game. After being in the lead in the first round, things took a turn in Double Jeopardy. “After the first round, I’m thinking ‘Okay, I could win this thing’,” he said.

“It was kind of intimidating with a bunch of other people that were champions…I think it made me over-confident. I buzzed too much. I thought everything was falling apart when it really wasn’t. If I had kept it together better after that, I think I would have been better off.”