Bob CollinsWhen it was revealed that Cindy Stowell had died, weeks after taping an appearance on Jeopardy!, we had no idea how well she did on the show, a lifelong dream, apparently.
Now we do.
She wasn’t on just one episode; she was on six of them, the last of which aired locally yesterday afternoon. She’s one of only 38 contestants to appear on so many.
She had Stage IV colon cancer when she taped the broadcasts. She competed while on painkillers and during one taping, her fever spiked so high that a makeup artist had to rush onstage during a commercial break to clean up her sweating.
“She really saw it as a personal challenge to test herself in this forum that she watched and loved,” her longtime boyfriend, Jason Hess, tells the New York Times. “She said going in that her main objective was not to embarrass herself. Clearly, she achieved that.”
Before dying earlier this month, she donated her winnings to cancer research.
So did other Jeopardy champions, the Times says.
