What is $70,801? Mattea Roach's Jeopardy! winnings after her second big win

Nova Scotia’s Jeopardy! champion Mattea Roach is on a roll.

The 23-year-old Halifax woman won her second round of Jeopardy! Wednesday evening, earning her an impressive two-day total of $70,801.

Roach went into Wednesday’s round with $32,001 after Tuesday’s episode.

Mattea may be asking herself how she got here, but those stats don't lie! Our returning champ played impressively and doubled her total winnings in her 2nd game! #jeopardata pic.twitter.com/D8u32KfNCR

— Jeopardy! (@Jeopardy) April 7, 2022

She was quick with her buzzer all night, buzzing in on 83 per cent of the clues, according to the game show’s daily box score. She had 35 correct responses and only two incorrect responses during Wednesday’s episode.

Yesterday's Box Score: April 6, 2022 #jeopardata pic.twitter.com/9qpU8jFFf0

— Jeopardy! (@Jeopardy) April 7, 2022

“I remember being surprised while taping yesterday’s game at how on fire I was, and it was just as surprising to me watching it back again,” Roach said in a series of tweets, which offered her insights on Wednesday’s game.

04/06/22 episode thoughts:
So… that went well! I remember being surprised while taping yesterday’s game at how on fire I was, and it was just as surprising to me watching it back again

— Mattea Roach (@mattearoach) April 7, 2022

She also nabbed all three Daily Doubles and guessed each one correctly.

Roach went into Wednesday’s Final Jeopardy! with $28,800, and when the final category -- small countries -- was announced, the tutor felt confident enough to wager $10,000.

“I felt really good about the category, but still decided that $10K was the maximum amount I was willing to lose if it turned out I had been overconfident about small countries,” she said in a tweet on Thursday.

In terms of my FJ wager, I felt really good about the category but still decided that $10k was the maximum amount I was willing to lose if it turned out I had been overconfident about small countries

— Mattea Roach (@mattearoach) April 7, 2022

In the end, it paid off.

The clue was: “French, Italian and Swiss nationals make up about half of its population of 38,000.”

Roach was the only contestant to guess the correct response -- but she almost didn’t.

Like the other two contestants – an associate professor from Washington and a digital programming manager from Connecticut -- Roach’s first hunch was Liechtenstein, which she started to write on her board.

However, she second-guessed herself and changed her answer to Monaco.

“I had reason to be trepidatious, since I did write down almost the entire word ‘Liechtenstein’ before asking myself, ‘Wait, why would there be French and Italian citizens in Liechtenstein?’ and realizing that I should switch to Monaco. Very glad I did!” she tweeted.

I had reason to be trepidatious, since I did write down almost the entire word “Liechtenstein” before asking myself “wait, why would there be French and Italian citizens in Liechtenstein?” and realizing that I should switch to Monaco. Very glad I did!

— Mattea Roach (@mattearoach) April 7, 2022

That brought her winnings up to $38,800, for a two-day total of $70,801.  

Roach, who graduated from the University of Toronto in 2020 and now lives in the city, has said she plans to pay off her student loans with her winnings.

If there is any money left, Roach told CTV News in a phone interview on Wednesday that she is “a pretty practical person,” and will likely invest it.

She did say, however, that a trip to Portugal could also be in her future.

Roach first applied to be on the long-running game show in 2020. This January, she was invited to Los Angeles to tape an episode.

While Roach is from Halifax, she also has close ties to Cape Breton. Her mom is from Ingonish, N.S., and her father is from New Waterford, N.S., and many of her relatives still live on the island.

Roach will face off against Mike Janela, a sportscaster from New York, and Reagan White, a college student from New Jersey, Thursday night.