Algonquin librarian’s run on ‘Jeopardy!’ ends after two wins, $60K+

Jen Jazwinski of Algonquin, who described her appearance on “Jeopardy!” as “so stinking fun,” saw her run come to an end Monday.

The youth services librarian from the Algonquin Area Public Library District entered Monday’s show with $59,201 in winnings from her first two appearances, which aired last week, but came up short in her third matchup.

Jazwinski trailed by $4,000 after the first round to Tim Moon, an attorney from New York. Moon found all three Daily Doubles in the game, answering them all correctly to take an $8,600 lead heading in to Final Jeopardy.

Both Jazwinski and Moon correctly answered the final question in the category College Life, but the margin was too much for Jazwinski to make up, and she lost by $1,000. Jazwinski added $2,000 to her total winnings with the second place finish.

“I couldn’t lose to a nicer guy than Tim,” she said. “He was just so fast on the buzzer.”

Jazwinski said her one regret about not winning the third time is it effectively takes her out of the running for any Tournament of Champions opportunity, meaning her husband and parents won’t be able to see her on the show in person. Jazwinski filmed her episodes without a studio audience because of the pandemic.

“That part made me a little bit sad,” she said.

Jazwinski said keeping the secret of how the episodes turned out from friends and co-workers hasn’t been easy the past few days, but she was overwhelmed by the support she’s received.

“The community in Algonquin has just been amazing,” she said. “To have all these people cheering me on, I’ve cried so many times over the last five days because I didn’t expect that.

“It’s just been really lovely.”