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Kim Harmon
Audio clip
Jeff Harmon
Dunlap public defender puts skills to the test on ‘Jeopardy!’
DUNLAP, Tenn. — “Jeopardy!” contestant Jeff Harmon’s run ended last night but not before he racked up three days’ winnings and a lifetime of memories, he said.
Mr. Harmon won Friday’s and Monday’s editions of the long-running game show but was finally defeated Tuesday, he said.
“It came down to ‘Final Jeopardy’ again,” Mr. Harmon said.
“As soon as the answer was revealed, I knew it. It’s just that I was running in a different direction, then realized my mistake too late to fix it,” Mr. Harmon said.
Mr. Harmon, an attorney in the 12th Judicial District Public Defender’s office, went to Los Angeles in November to tape the show but had to keep the result secret until the games.
Keeping mum through the family Thanksgiving dinner was especially hard, he laughed.
But when his first game aired Friday, he was surprised at some family members’ reaction at a “Jeopardy” party in Dunlap.
He expected a cheer from his sisters when he won at the end, but “they (cheered) every time I got a correct answer,” he laughed. “It was a hoot.”
Another surprise awaited him at home on Friday.
“By the time we got home there were many, many messages flashing on the answering machine. And to a great extent it was older ladies calling to tell how proud they were of me,” he said.
He said the callers who knew his late parents also remarked, “I wish your mom and dad had seen you.”
“Trust me, so do I,” he said.
Mr. Harmon’s wife, Kim, accompanied him to California for taping. She said they “had a wonderful time, but it was nerve-wracking.”
Mr. Harmon might have answered the final question of Tuesday’s game, but “I don’t know if he would have known ‘Ivory Soap’ or not,” Mrs. Harmon said.
Mr. Harmon said people watched for signs of sudden wealth, but contestants receive no money until their final show airs.
“People have been asking me what I’m going to do” with more than $44,000 in winnings, he said. “After taxes and church, it’s going in the college fund for the kids.”
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Jeff Harmon
Ben Benton is a news reporter at the Chattanooga Times Free Press. He covers Southeast Tennessee and previously covered North Georgia education. Ben has worked at the Times Free Press since November 2005, first covering Bledsoe and Sequatchie counties and later adding Marion, Grundy and other counties in the northern and western edges of the region to his coverage. He was born and raised in Cleveland, Tenn., a graduate of Bradley Central High School. Benton ...
