A 20-year-old student from Wheaton, Ill., has been on a winning spree on “Jeopardy!” for three consecutive days. Ashok Poozhikunnel, who first appeared on the show Jan. 3, has so far earned $65,602. He was to return again Jan. 8. According to his Facebook page, Poozhikunnel attends the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and works as an underwriting benefits consultant at Gallagher Benefit Services in Itasca, Ill.

On his third appearance Jan. 7, Poozhikunnel told host Alex Trebek that after being selected for the contest, he practiced with his brother to sharpen his general knowledge skills while his sister played the role of the show host.

In his first appearance on the show Jan. 3, a confident Poozhikunnel was leading with $3,000. After finding the Daily Double in the “Historical Hodgepodge” category, he wagered $1,000, got the answer right and increased his lead to $4,000. 

In the Double Jeopardy round, he found the first Daily Double in the “10 Characters, 5 Authors” category, bet $2,000, but got the answer wrong.

But he still finished in the lead and was the only contestant to get the Final Jeopardy answer correct. The question in the category “Sex & The Constitution” was: “Of the 27 Amendments to the Constitution, it’s the number of the only one to contain the word ‘sex.’ “ The correct response: “What is the 19th Amendment.” The 19th Amendment prohibits any United States citizen to be denied the right to vote based on sex. In his second appearance, Poozhikunnel seemed to look more at ease. He arrived on Jan. 4 with a one-day total of $21, 600 and finished the first round in the lead with $8,800. He also found the last Daily Double in the “Let Me Preface That” category and cemented his lead. 

Despite being the only contestant to get the Final Jeopardy answer wrong, Poozhikunnel, who bet $6,599, ended up with $18,001 making him the two-day champion with a total of $39,601. The question in the category Imaginary Characters was:”For a 1921 play, they were dubbed Blick, Flick,  Flick, Glick, Snick, Plick, Whick & Quee; 25 years later, they got new names. The correct answer: Who are the seven dwarves – which Poozhikunnel answered incorrectly as the Munchkins. 

On Jan 7, the third day, Poozhikunnel, who seemed to have got off to a decent start, faltered in the first round, but picked up pace in the Double Jeopardy round having found the first Daily Double in the “Days of Yore” category. He had $3,200; he bet $3,000 and with the correct answer increased his total to $6,200. He also found the last Daily Double in “Female Firsts.” 

With a lead of $15,000, Poozhikunnel bet $3,000 again but gave the wrong answer and dropped his total to $12,000. 

All of the contestants got the Final Jeopardy answer – Babe Ruth – right and having bet $7,201, Poozhikunnel won with a total of $26,001, putting him on Jeopardy’s Top 12 list of highest prize money winners. 

The question on the category “American Sports Legends” was: “A bio from 1974, 26 years after his death, quotes him: “I swing big… I hit big or I miss big. I like to live as big as I can.”