There are many ways to prepare to be on Jeopardy: watch the show, figure out a wagering strategy, practice buzzing in with a pen or a toilet paper holder. What you can’t prepare for is challenging a 10-plus day champion on a multimillion-dollar warpath, armed with a career as a sports better and a unique strategy honed by past experiences on other game shows.

That champ is James Holzhauer, an instant Jeopardy legend whose 20-plus day win record places him second behind Ken Jennings, who currently holds the record for the longest winning streak. Holzhauer’s aggressive betting strategy and impressive knowledge base have helped him earn more than $1 million in the blink of an eye, leading many to call him a wizard who may turn Ken Jennings into a footnote in history.

It all makes for really great TV. It’s also a nightmare scenario for contestants who’ve waited their whole lives to go on the show, only to run into a buzzsaw.

As a three-time Jeopardy contestant in October 2014, I can confirm: Nobody expects a buzzsaw. You don’t find out who the reigning champ is until you arrive at the Culver City Sony lot the morning of your tape day, about two hours or so before the cameras roll. My reigning champ had won two episodes — more than most people win, but nothing compared to Julia Collins, who now holds the third-place record for her 20-game streak. I was able to relax a little.

Holzhauer’s competitors can’t do that. “James came into the green room and every producer was patting him on the back, saying, ‘Hey champ,’” said Alix Basden, who came in second to Holzhauer on his 16th game. Holzhauer didn’t reveal his $850,000 in winnings or 13-day streak until the producers asked him to. When that happened, Basden said she “almost fell out of my seat. I was like, ‘Oh, so that’s how this is going to go’.” Robin Falco, who faced Holzhauer in his 17th episode, thought at first that the producers might be kidding. Another contestant remembers dropped jaws and laughter.

They’d soon find out what they were up against. Five episodes of Jeopardy are filmed each day, and producers pick which contestants play at random. If it’s not your turn, you sit in the audience and watch everyone compete. It can be a nerve-wracking experience for contestants who don’t compete until a later episode.

When I competed, I wanted to be on the first episode to avoid having to sit with my nerves for any longer than necessary. But most contestants who filmed on days where Holzhauer competed told me they hoped the opposite.

“I wanted to go later in the day so someone else could take him down,” Jasmine Leonas, who came in third on Holzhauer’s 18th game, said. And for competitors hoping to be the Arya to Holzhauer’s Night King, waiting until later in the day meant more time to hopefully master the champ’s strategy.

For Holzhauer, that strategy is an unusual one in Jeopardy history. He starts from the bottom of the game board where the highest-value (and hardest) clues are, rather than starting at the top of the board, which is the most common order. Ariana Mikulski, who faced down Holzhauer on his fourth episode, was practically in disbelief watching it happen. “I was living cognitive dissonance,” she said. “I had come in determined to not let any single person psych me out, but then I’m also watching his total dominance and bold wagers.” Mikulski came in third place on the episode where Holzhauer shattered the previous $77,000 single-day winnings record by scooping up $110,914.

In fact, most competitors haven’t attempted to use Holzhauer’s strategy, realizing they likely won’t win. “I went in geared up, but realistic,” said Laura Hertzfeld, who competed on Holzhauer’s fifth game. After all, the game passes in a blur, and strategy is easier executed from an armchair.

“It’s one thing to understand his strategy, and another to defend against it,” said Tyler Lee, a competitor on Holzhauer’s 17th game. “He’s playing the ‘optimal’ strategy. So you could do the same, but if you can’t play it better than he can, with the level of confidence that he has in the breadth of categories, then you’re just playing into his hands.” According to Falco, another factor is money, since Jeopardy does not pay travel costs for contestants on the show. “I’ve taken some flak for making a low wager on a Daily Double, but I had to stay in second place so I could afford plane fare and the hotel,” she said.

Someone who notably tried mirroring Holzhauer’s strategy — and very nearly won — was Adam Levin, who appeared on Holzhauer’s 18th game. Although nearly all of Holzhauer’s episodes have been runaways going into Final Jeopardy, Levin put up a fight so strong that Holzhauer only beat him by $18.

A key part of Levin’s near-victory? He was a holdover from the previous tape day and had watched Holzhauer’s massive Daily Double bets for five episodes. When Levin landed on one, he went uncharacteristically big with his wager. “I’m not generally the type who would’ve wagered $12,000 on a $13,000 total,” he said. “It helped me to see James in action.”

Given all of this, some sour grapes are understandable. Leonas competed against Holzhauer and Levin on her episode. “I felt like I was thrown into the Tournament of Champions,” she said. “I was frustrated, and I’m a little disappointed. It feels like I didn’t get to play a regular game of Jeopardy.” She and Falco noted that the fact that he was financially able to take a year off from his job as a professional sports gambler to study for Jeopardy, gave him a more than unfair advantage.

But Levin isn’t mad about his experience. “I showed he’s beatable,” he said. “It was the opportunity of a lifetime, and I wouldn’t do anything differently than the way I did it.” Basden agrees. “If I had to lose, I’m glad it was to him.” Hertzfeld knew that Holzhauer’s episodes would receive extra attention, so she used her platform for good: she’s raised nearly $1,900 for Stand Up to Cancer, inspired by Alex Trebek’s pancreatic cancer diagnosis.

I can’t say where I’d fall on the spectrum, but I do know this: I’m really, really, really glad Holzhauer wasn’t the reigning champ in the green room on the day I taped.

Terri Pous is a writer and editor based in New York City whose writing has been featured on BuzzFeed, Time, and the Week, among others. She’s a two-time Jeopardy champ and can be found sharing random facts and trivia on Twitter at @terripous.

First Person is Vox’s home for compelling, provocative narrative essays. Do you have a story to share? Read our submission guidelines, and pitch us at firstperson@vox.com.

“What was Alex Trebek like?”

“Is Alex the same in person as he is on TV?”

“I can’t believe you got to see the mustache.”

Being on Jeopardy means answering a lot of questions about Alex Trebek. I was on Jeopardy — three times, and was a two-day champ in October 2014 — and since then I’ve talked a lot about Trebek. I’ve talked more about him than about the questions I answered or how much money I won. Because the thing is, most people aren’t regular viewers of the show. Many never watch it at all. But everyone knows who Alex Trebek is.

In some ways, Trebek has permeated more of pop culture than the game show he’s hosted for the past 35 years. He’s wise, avuncular, omniscient, and so beloved by Stephen Colbert that he played a key role in Colbert Report’s finale. Whenever something happens to him, whether it’s the terms of his hosting contract or serious health news, it feels he’s like more than just a TV personality. It’s a bright light of pop culture fading, dimming out a culture of no-frills, no-drama televised trivia that’s become increasingly hard to find.

People always ask me about meeting Alex Trebek

The number of questions I get about Trebek is far disproportionate to the amount of time I actually got to spend with him. Aside from the interview portion, contestants chat with him for maybe two minutes after the show ends, and that’s it. My interactions with him are a bit of a blur — nerves are a hell of a drug — but I do remember him graciously answering a variety of questions from the audience and waving to my family when I pointed them out.

But that limited exposure provides an outsized, lasting impression of the man. Among the 2,000+ members of the private Jeopardy Contestants Facebook group I’m in, many shared with me warm memories of him that are still vivid years — even decades — after they happened. Josh Woo, who competed during Kids Week in 2003, only had glowing things to say about Trebek’s rapport with the 12-and-under crowd. “He was great with the kids, messing with us during picture time. One girl pretended to backhand him when he put bunny ears on her — Alex proceeded to limp back to his podium, clutching his chest in mock pain, groaning, ‘Aye, that was brutal — she gave me a whack!’”

His affability is equally strong with the adult crowd. “I felt that he took a genuine interest in my personal story about taking a trip to Poland with my grandfather, a Holocaust survivor, to visit his hometown,” Jordan Nussbaum, who appeared on two episodes in 2018, remembers. “He spent an extra few seconds talking to me. That moment of a genuine connection, from a man who speaks to hundreds of contestants a year, was very nice.”

The show’s taping schedule can be grueling — they film five shows a day, three before lunch and two after. That’s a lot of kibitzing. It’s no surprise that the extra care and attention Trebek shows in those brief shared moments cements into lasting memories. Nothing notable happened during my three episodes, but I’ll never forget the calm that washed over me as I heard Johnny Gilbert announce, “And here is the host of Jeopardy, Alex Trebek!”

His even delivery and “Ooh, sorry”s were comforting sounds in my childhood, ones that were the only TV noise allowed during dinnertime. I’m not the only one who feels like his consistency over the decades has been something of a security blanket. When I applied to go on the show, I didn’t think about winning money. I was a lifelong trivia nerd who just wanted to challenge myself, and do it before Trebek retired.

Jeopardy made it okay to be knowledgeable

Sure, he can be condescending, like when he called a contestant and her friends losers. But he’s nothing compared to Anne Robinson, the eviscerating host of the long-gone Weakest Link. And come on, he acts like he knows everything. But … that’s his job. A know-it-all is the perfect host for the format.

“Jeopardy and Trebek make it not only okay to be educated and knowledgeable, they make it something to be desired, and remunerative,” Lynn Babcock Laniewski, a four-time champion from 2000, said. “It’s kind of an island in a sea of what seems sometimes to be willful ignorance.” Adam Francois Watkins, a one-day champ from 2018, agrees. “Recently, I think he’s become an avatar of the importance (and even existence) of truth in a so-called post-truth world.”

Perhaps this is because Trebek cares most about letting the contestants and the information shine in equal amounts. Aside from a bizarre attempt at moderating a gubernatorial debate in 2018, he stays out of the fray, making his controversies mostly show-related. “He doesn’t try to overshadow the stars of the show, who are, in reality, the contestants,” Nussbaum said. “It’s notable that on Wheel of Fortune, when Pat Sajak and Vanna White are introduced, they’re called the stars of the show. When Alex Trebek is introduced, he is referred to simply as the host.” Perhaps it’s this humility that has allowed him to naturally rise to the top, ironically becoming bigger than the show he hosts.

And thank god for that. In preparing for the show, the only things you really need to worry about are knowing your facts, having a grasp on wagering strategy, and having a few fun stories to tell. As a final testament to the power of Trebek, consider this: Producer Maggie Speak said to the greenroom of caffeine- and nerve-riddled contestants on my tape day that most people are more nervous about talking to Trebek during the interview portion than they are to, you know, answer trivia questions. Because you’ll probably forget all of the answers you got right. But you’ll never forget meeting the most prominent man in trivia.

Terri Pous is a writer and editor based in New York City whose writing has been featured on BuzzFeed, Time, and The Week, among others. She’s a two-time Jeopardy champ and can be found sharing random facts and trivia on Twitter at @tepous.

First Person is Vox’s home for compelling, provocative narrative essays. Do you have a story to share? Read our submission guidelines, and pitch us at firstperson@vox.com.