Columbia native blows away competition on ‘Jeopardy!’
Wearing an orange tie representing his college alma mater, a Columbia native beat out a returning champion on a popular television game show.
Columbia native Nilanka Seneviratne competed on Thursday’s episode of “Jeopardy” and beat out the competition with $7,601, compared with the runners-up, who had $6,199 and $1,300.
None of the competitors answered the final question correctly, but Seneviratne was able to come out on top.
Seneviratne said he was born and raised in Columbia. He graduated from Dreher High School in1998 and then attended Clemson.
Clue: Nilanka Senerviratne
— Dreher High School (@DreherHigh) April 19, 2017
Answer: Which Dreher grad will be on Jeopardy this Thursday at 7:30 PM! https://t.co/G7cmUpKmPU
During the show, Seneviratne mentioned a story from a class he attended at Dreher High. He said he and his best friend would receive extra credit in Latin class thanks to learning new words from the show.
Seneviratne said he also took classes at the University of South Carolina before moving to Washington D.C. in 2005. He is a deputy director at PartnersGlobal, which helps create nonprofits around the world.
This story was originally published April 21, 2017 at 10:14 AM with the headline "Columbia native blows away competition on ‘Jeopardy!’."