LATHAM, N.Y. (NEWS10) — For $1,000, this Capital Region native will be competing on “Jeopardy!” on Wednesday. Who is… 25-year-old Nannono Zirimu from Latham.
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Competing on “Jeopardy!” has been a longtime dream for Zirimu, who, as a young child, would sit with her father every night to watch the game show. The Shaker High School alumna, now regulatory analyst, said she has always loved learning new facts, and was first inspired to go on the show while watching the 2007 Kids Week edition.
“I was 7 years old and I saw, oh my god, there’s kids that are on this quiz show and this is stuff I learned in school,” Zirimu told NEWS10, adding that the show has a special place in her heart because of her father. “My dad has definitely nourished my love for learning new things.”
In her freshman year at Syracuse University, Zirimu decided to take Jeopardy’s qualifying test — called the Anytime Test — to try to get on the show. It wasn’t until her fourth attempt in July 2024 that she finally got a call back to continue the 18-month-long audition process, which included a second test, a mock game with other potential contestants, and an interview with producers.
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When asked if she had felt confident about the possibility of getting on the show, Zirimu said, “You have to go in thinking, ‘yeah, I think I can do this.’ … I thought ‘maybe I can get in, but low stakes if I don’t.’”…