Skip to main content
A Portland Fire & Rescue employee named Greg Monson is the reigning champion on the TV game show Jeopardy. He won two nights last week, Oct. 8 and 9, and will return to the show as a contestant on the Monday, Oct. 12 KATU-TV broadcast.
So far, Monson has raked in $31,300.
“We are super proud of him,” says Rick Graves, spokesman for Portland Fire & Rescue.
Monson is a non-sworn staff member who works in the TV services department. On the Oct. 9 show, Monson explained his job during a brief conversation with host Ken Jennings.
“I make all kinds of training videos for them, but my background is in narrative filmmaking,” Monson said. “I make all my training videos super cinematic. I do, like, dramatic lighting and cool Dutch angles and things. I try to keep it entertaining for everybody.”
According to his LinkedIn profile, Monson graduated from New York University with a degree in film and television production in 2007. Monson is unavailable for comment on his Jeopardy run because he is out of the country and hasn’t watched any of the episodes yet, Graves says, but his colleagues at the fire houses have been watching nightly to cheer him on.
Monson made $8,700 during his Oct. 8 Jeopardy debut. On the Oct. 9 episode, Monson was in second place going into the Double Jeopardy round, where he dominated with correct answers to such questions as which labor leader unsuccessfully ran for president five times (Eugene Debs) and which arctic mammal has the scientific name Ursus maritimus (the polar bear).
All three contestants got Final Jeopardy right—the category was 1990s nonfiction bestsellers and the correct response was about Jon Krakauer books—but Monson came out on top with $22,600 for the day.
Monson’s third appearance on Jeopardy will air Monday, Oct. 12 at 7 pm on KATU-TV or streaming on Peacock and Hulu.
