Q: Who is John Krizel?

After four consecutive days of victories, Baldwin native John Krizel was defeated on the fifth day by a black hole.

That was the answer — more specifically, the question — John missed during Final Jeopardy on his fifth and final appearance on the popular TV quiz show. But even though he was defeated, Krizel came away with a once-in-a-lifetime experience — and more than $107,000 in winnings.

"The experience of going to L.A. and taping it was so much fun," said Krizel, 24, a 2004 graduate of Oceanside High School who has a master's degree in public policy and lives in Washington, D.C., where he works for the AmeriCorps VISTA program. Watching the show later with his friends, he added, was one of the strangest things he had ever done. "It was much more stressful to watch myself on TV," he said.

Krizel's "Jeopardy" experience began in January 2008, when he went online, to the show's website, and took a test to become a contestant. He did well enough to be invited to a local audition in Washington, D.C., where he lives. The audition involved a written test as well as a mock show, on which candidates practice answering questions with a buzzer and prepare profiles of themselves.

The best potential contestants are kept on a contestant list for 18 months. In February 2009, Krizel got a called inviting him to come to Los Angeles and be a contestant on the show. His family — his father, John; his mother, Lorraine; and his sister, Lauren — came to Los Angeles to cheer him on.

"'Jeopardy' is such a familiar thing for everybody," said Krizel's father, who retired from his position as an OHS social studies teacher in 2008, after 37 years in the district. "But when you think about it, how many people do you know that have been on 'Jeopardy'? I never knew anyone who was on it. And then to go there to California and see your own son on it, it was pretty neat. It was surreal."

Four episodes were taped each day, and on Krizel's first day on the set, he sat out the first three games until he was selected to compete in the fourth. Sitting around waiting to compete was nerve-racking, as was the first game, he recounted.