Brains, Equanimity Traits For Winning ‘Jeopardy!’

The answer to succeeding on “Jeopardy!” isn’t just being smart. Also helpful is a level of compulsiveness that might be considered, well, questionable.

Knowing Van Buren was president No. 8, recalling that “Marty” won the 1955 best-picture Oscar, and being able to quote everything Shakespeare ever doodled should be enough. But skip buzzer technique, timing and stress control, and you may fall into the category of loser.

That’s the inside view from Bob Harris, a man with serious “Jeopardy!” credentials.

“Hey, five-time champ, baby,” says Harris, a political humorist and CBS radio commentator who earned a berth on the syndicated TV game show’s Tournament of Champions.

The two-week contest featuring the past year’s top 15 competitors and a $100,000 grand prize begins today. The host, of course, is Alex Trebek, a man who manages to unite the concepts “game show host” and “debonair.”

“Jeopardy!” tests players’ knowledge in a wide variety of categories by presenting an answer and then allowing each contestant a chance to quickly ring in with the appropriate question. The tension can reach Cold War levels.

But Harris, 34, of Los Angeles appeared charmingly relaxed as he breezed his way through his first four wins last September.

Forget appearances. It took four tries over 18 months for him to pass the tough, 50-question test required to gain entree to the game (fail and you have to wait six months to be re-tested).

Harris considers “Jeopardy!” - created in the early ‘60s by entertainer Merv Griffin - worth the effort: “It’s one of the only things on television that puts a premium on intelligence.”

It can also be quite lucrative.

This year’s Tournament of Champions players have cumulative earnings of $750,000 from their previous appearances, with a perplayer average of more than $50,000. Harris picked up $58,000 in his five “Jeopardy!” wins.

Chuck Forrest, who was a U.S. Foreign Service officer when he won the 1986 Tournament of Champions, is the game’s all-time money-winner with $172,800.

Once in as a contestant, Harris began nightly cram sessions.

Among the reference books he used were the “Oxford Companion to English Literature,” “The New York Public Library Desk Reference” and several world atlases.