As a recent contestant on Jeopardy!, Rev. Elizabeth Hurd reflects on how this experience became a life lesson, happening at the same time as a cancer diagnosis.
REV. ELIZABETH HURD
West Bloomfield UMC
“Lord, you brought me here for a reason. Help me see it. Help me just play, have fun, and let go of expectations. Thank you.”
I prayed this prayer while standing behind a podium on the Alex Trebek Stage.
Here I was, about to play a game of Jeopardy! Here I was, about to be part of one of the most iconic cultural institutions in the United States and Canada. Here I was, fulfilling a dream I’ve had since I was 15.
I have been trying out for Jeopardy! every year for the past 17 years. As a teenager, I took the Jeopardy! Teen Test. As an undergraduate, I took the College Test. And then, the Adult Test. The Jeopardy! test became an annual tradition for me. When the schedule was released, I’d sign up. The day would come, and I’d block an hour on a weeknight to take it. In 2020, Jeopardy! moved to an Anytime Test that aspiring contestants could take once a year. It became a standing commitment on my calendar. Each time, I hoped and prayed it would be my time. Year after year after year, it wasn’t.
Cut to summer 2025, the worst week of my life.
On July 8, I had to undergo a biopsy of a suspicious nodule on my thyroid. On July 9, I was officially diagnosed with stage one papillary thyroid cancer. Although it was caught early and has a 98% 10-year survival rate, I was shaken. The primary treatment for thyroid cancer is thyroid removal, which means I will be on synthetic thyroid hormones for the rest of my life. In such a short time, my life was permanently altered.
The day after my diagnosis, I took a mental health day. I went to the Detroit Institute of Arts, walked my dog, and attended a rehearsal for a sketch show I was in. Then I went home and watched Jeopardy! as I do every weeknight. Just before getting ready for bed, I checked my email.
I almost dropped my phone.
“Jeopardy! Test Audition Invite” stared at me from the subject line. I quickly opened the email. “Congratulations! You’ve been selected for a follow-up audition . . . .” A 50-question proctored test on Zoom.
I called my parents, and we celebrated.
I had auditioned once before, in 2021, and nothing had come of it. My parents and I agreed that, even if nothing came from this audition, it was still good news in the midst of a terrible week.
But for whatever reason, this audition was the one. I took the proctored test. 4 hours later, I received an invitation to a Game Play audition via email.
This was it. The audition that would bring me closest to my dream. I’d do this audition and be in the official contestant pool for two years.
The Game Play audition came and went. I knew I did well. I played well. The contestant producer loved that I’m a pastor who does improv. I took a deep breath and thanked God. Years of trying, and I was as close as I had ever gotten. I asked for patience for the next two years.
I didn’t have to wait two years. Three weeks later, I received a call asking if I could come out to film in October.
I was devastated.
I explained to the producer that I couldn’t. I had recently been diagnosed with thyroid cancer, and the day they wanted me was less than a month after my thyroid removal. I didn’t know what follow-up treatment I would need. It wouldn’t work for that date. The producer said she understood, made a note in my contestant profile, and said Jeopardy! would be in touch again.
To be honest, I was really angry with God right then. Through tears, I prayed, “God, how dare you do this to me? You know how much I’ve wanted this. You know this is my life dream. Why would you allow this offer to come now, when I have to say no to it?”
Perhaps, in the midst of so much injustice and suffering in our world, crying over not being able to go film Jeopardy! seems trivial. Yet I know my anger was about so much more than not being able to film Jeopardy! I was carrying a lot of grief about my cancer diagnosis. I had avoided those feelings by focusing on the good prognosis and the quick recovery period. Sure, it was cancer, but it wasn’t a big, bad, scary cancer. As if any cancer isn’t big, bad, and scary.
Saying no to my life dream felt like hitting a brick wall. Oh, yeah. I had cancer. And cancer, regardless of prognosis, is a thief. In that moment, saying no helped me name and confront the grief and anger I felt at my diagnosis.
In many ways, that was a gift. It allowed me to be honest with myself about how angry, upset, and scared I was about what I was going through. It was God’s way of reminding me to slow down, care for myself, and be vulnerable.
It was also a reminder to trust in God’s timing. I wasn’t meant to be on Jeopardy! in October. The opportunity would come back to me when it was meant to, when God’s timing was right.
God’s timing was February 2026.
Now, I will admit, I did joke with my parents that, perhaps, God was helping me avoid playing a super champion (someone who wins 10+ games). It turns out, I was probably right about that. Had I gone in October, I likely would have been up against 14-day champion Harrison Whitaker.
But God’s timing did so much more for me than that.
It will surprise no one to learn I am competitive and a perfectionist, and I strive to be the best in all things. My Jeopardy! dream was coupled with analyzing game play, figuring out where Daily Doubles are statistically most likely to be, working on buzzer skills, and looking at old clues to get an idea of Jeopardy! phrasing. I had this obsessive idea that if I went out to Jeopardy! I needed to win. I put a lot of pressure on myself. If I went, I wanted to be the best. No, I would be the best.
God gave me the opportunity to let go of that pressure. In God’s wisdom and timing, God reminded me that, at the core, my dream was not to win, but to play Jeopardy! My dream was not to become a celebrated super champion, but to just be there. My dream was not to break Ken Jennings’ record, but just to make it to the stage. At the end of the day, only one person can win a game of Jeopardy! I had a 2-out-of-3 chance of losing. But I would still be there.
And I did lose to an amazing three-day champion, James Hirsh. I made some pretty silly errors, like forgetting the second half of “carbon dioxide” on my Daily Double and saying “Austraila” was a city in Final. And, sure, I felt some disappointment. I only earned $6,000 before Final and ended with $5,000. One game and I was done.
But I had been there. I was a Jeopardy! contestant. My dream had come true.
Tuesday night, after taping for the week was finished, I went to the hotel bar with some of the people from my tape day. We had all been sequestered together for hours, with no access to cell phones. All we could do was talk with each other and watch Jeopardy! as they taped games. That is certainly a way to get to know people.
As we sat at the bar, swapped stories, talked about our games, took pictures, traded emails, and followed each other on Instagram, I felt a deep assurance in my spirit.
This was why I was here. To meet new people. To make new friends. To bond over this game. To share in something bigger than ourselves. To add to a cultural institution that celebrates knowledge, even as the world grows increasingly anti-intellectual. To live out a dream. To simply have the experience of being on Jeopardy! That was what it was about.
I shot a prayer of thanksgiving to God. Sure, I had lost. But had I?
I was there. After walking through a cancer diagnosis. I was there. After having my thyroid removed. I was there. In the midst of adjusting to new medication. I was there. After years of dreaming of being on Jeopardy! I was there.
That was not a loss.
The phrase “things happen in God’s timing” is one I wrestle with. Sometimes it feels like a platitude to explain away the unexplainable. But at other times, it rings so true in my spirit.
The experience of Jeopardy! is one of the times it rings true.
Why now? After all my years of trying, why was God’s timing now?
I can’t answer that question beyond what I have personally experienced.
Having this opportunity now was a blessing. It gave me hope and joy amid a very hard year. It also blessed me with new friendships. Most importantly, it gave me the chance to stop putting pressure on myself to be perfect and simply enjoy the moment, the experience, and the people I shared it with.
Maybe that’s all God needed from my time on Jeopardy! Maybe there’s more God will use it for. Who knows but God?
But what I do know is that this opportunity to fulfill my Jeopardy! dream came to me when God meant it to.
Funnily enough, my tape day was February 2. A congregant gifted me with a daily devotional. I read the devotion for February 2, and the author mentioned Jeopardy! If that’s not a sign I was in the right place at the right time, I don’t know what is.
The devotion ended with the words, “I know that God is with me. When I know that, I know enough.”
I carried those words with me onto the Alex Trebek Stage. God was with me, just as God had been through diagnosis, surgery, and recovery. Just as God had been through the ups and downs of the past six months. Just as God has been with me, always.
“Lord, you brought me here for a reason. Help me see it. Help me just play, have fun, and let go of expectations. Thank you.”
The publication of this article was made possible thanks to generous financial gifts from local United Methodist churches in Michigan through Ministry Shares. Thank you! Learn about the impact of Ministry Shares on mission and ministry in Michigan and around the world.
Last Updated on March 9, 2026