‘Jeopardy!’ Shocker: Meet 18-Year-Old Delaney O’Dea — The Teen Genius Who Outsmarted the Veterans, Broke a 40-Year Record, and Left Ken Jennings Speechless! In just one episode, this high school prodigy turned America’s favorite quiz show upside down, proving that age means nothing when brilliance strikes. Fans are calling her “the future of Jeopardy!” while critics wonder — could this be the rise of the youngest legend in TV history?

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Delaney O’Dea, an 18-year-old from Santa Monica, California, is one of the youngest contestants ever to compete on Jeopardy! Young as she might be, she isn’t the only teen to win on the game show.

Atish Choudhury was only 18 years old when he won in 1997, and Kevin Marshall was 19 when he won six games in 2006. The minimum age to be on Jeopardy! is 18, according to the official rules, so O’Dea just made the cut. The game show doesn’t keep track of the ages of its contestants, so there is no way to know for sure if she is the youngest of all time. (TV Insider reached out to Jeopardy! reps, but didn’t hear back in time for publication.)

Here is what you should know about Delaney O’Dea before her second game on October 16. Read on for five facts about her following her first win.

This isn’t her first time in the Jeopardy! studio

During her first game, O’Dea revealed that she attended a taping of Jeopardy! when she was seven years old. During a Q&A segment, she asked then-host Alex Trebek how young she had to be to be on the game show, and he told her 18. When she was old enough to try out, she did and made it on the show.

“I’ve always been a fan of Jeopardy! So I’m 18 now, and I made it on stage,” she told now-host Ken Jennings.

“As Alex fortold. Welcome to his namestake stage,” Jennings responded.

Delaney is a college student studying multiple programs

According to her LinkedIn, O’Dea attends Brown University, where she is studying Classics and Classical Language (Greek and Latin), Literatures, and Linguistics, and Medieval Cultures. She is pursuing a Bachelor of Arts degree, which she expects to earn in 2028.

Before attending Brown, O’Dea earned her Associate of Arts degree in History from Santa Monica College, which she attended concurrently with Santa Monica High School from 2020 to 2024.

She has big love for trivia and Jeopardy!

“I grew up on Jeopardy!” she told Brown Daily Herald. From a young age, O’Dea knew that she wanted to compete on the show. She would watch Jeopardy! with her grandmother and shout out all of the answers that she knew.

In high school, O’Dea led her school’s nationally competitive quiz bowl team. She only auditioned for Jeopardy! in January when she completed the Anytime Test, and was invited to the next round one month later. O’Dea was then called back in May for the final round audition and received the call in August for her official placement.

“I was shocked. This was the dream forever,” she told the publication. She then studied for one month before her episode was filmed by binge-watching episodes and studying with her mom. She even hosted Jeopardy! parties in her dorm room.

O’Dea is a fan of metal music & got a tattoo in honor of a favorite band

For her photo with Ken Jennings, they both posed by making the rock ‘n roll symbol with their hands. On Reddit, she captioned the post, “Ken loves metalheads.”

On the platform, O’Dea revealed that she loves metal music. Her favorite bands are Mercyful Fate, Morbid Angel, and Bathory. She also recently got a Black Sabbath tattoo. She also told Brown Daily Herald that her best subjects are metal and medieval studies.

She has had numerous jobs

According to her LinkedIn, O’Dea is currently a board member at the production workshop in Providence, Rhode Island, which is Brown University’s student-run theater. She is also an editor for the Brown Film Magazine and a station history archival manager for WBRU.

In the past, O’Dea has worked at Sweetgreen and J. Paul Getty Trust.

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