TOWSON, Md. — It was a dream come true for Towson native Ciara Donegan, an undergraduate student at the University of Maryland.
She not only was a contestant on Jeopardy!, she was called "champion."
Donegan, a 2018 Towson High School graduate, won her first televised episode of Jeopardy! Thursday night.
"I remember the contestant coordinator taking me back and calling me champion, which was such an amazing feeling," Donegan said.
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She was trailing when it was her turn to reveal her Final Jeopardy! answer, in which she got correctly.
The category was "Disney Characters" with the answer: In the source material from more than three centuries ago, her name was Badr Al-Budur, "Full Moon of Full Moons."
The correct response was "Who is Jasmine, from the movie Aladdin?"
Donegan wagered $8,001 and finished with $27,601, knocking off returning champion Tim McCaigue.
"It was one of the greatest experiences of my life so far, honestly. I was amazed at how supportive everybody was," Donegan said. "We were all competing against each other, everybody wanted to win, but we were all cheering each other on."
Donegan, who is about to graduate from the University of Maryland with a degree in Atmospheric and Oceanic Science, led all contestants by the time of Final Jeopardy!
Donegan will appear on Friday's Jeopardy! as returning champion. The show films five episodes in one day.
Her twin sister, Kristin Donegan, also from Towson, appeared on Jeopardy! National College Championship in February, marking a rare accomplishment of sisters making it on Jeopardy!
"It was amazing," Donegan said. "Both of us have been Jeopardy! fans for as long as I can remember. We didn't start watching it religiously until probably a couple years ago. I've always wanted to be on Jeopardy!"
Donegan said she got the call that she was invited on the show in December, and then the show was filmed in January.
"When i got through the audition process, and i knew I had a chance of getting on, my thought was that it doesn't seem as likely that i will make it on this time, but the fact that i even made it this far means I probably will get on someday," Donegan said. "I didn't expect it would happen this quickly because some people take like 15 years of auditions before they make it on."
She didn't know how she would fare on the show after going through a couple practice rounds in which she said she didn't do very well.
"I was nervous going into my episode, was shocked i was doing as well as i did, and the second the Final Jeopardy! category came up, I thought, 'Oh, I've got this. I can win,'" she said.
Still, even watching the episode back in Maryland on Thursday, Donegan was still in disbelief.
However, it will be an experience she will never forget.
"When you are up on stage, you kind of go through kind of a haze. I honestly barely don't remember before watching tonight because you are kind of on autopilot through the whole thing," Donegan said.
You can watch her performance from Thursday here.
