Dan Katz, assistant professor of mathematics, cultivated a love of game shows in his childhood. “I always liked puzzles, games, and competing,” said Katz. Katz never lost his love of game shows, and on June 9 he appeared as a contestant on the trivia-based game show “Jeopardy!” Katz auditioned three times and on the third try got the call.

Katz kept the details of his appearance on “Jeopardy!” to himself until after it aired.

“He was secretive because he had to be,” said Assistant Professor of Mathematics Jon Hatch.

Katz shares his love of games with his friend and colleague Hatch. Hatch shared a story about his friend.

“Time me!” Katz told Hatch. Katz sat there with a New York Times crossword puzzle and finished it in less than two minutes. Hatch congratulated him and Katz commented, “Oh, it’s only the Monday crossword.”

In between his regular work, Katz prepared for the show by using the “J! Archive” – a Web site that lists old “Jeopardy!” questions. His girlfriend helped him study.

“At some point the questions were getting increasingly easier and I’d realized she had gone into the kids questions,” Katz said, laughing.

“Jeopardy!” is a show that has its routines and contestants don’t have much of a chance to talk to host Alex Trebek.

“I did get to see the witty side of Trebek during the question and answer session during commercials,” Katz said.

When the game show started, Katz was the first to jump in.

“I called on my skill with competing with others to combat any nervousness or fear,” Katz said.

Katz soon realized that he lacked the answers for the categories arising.

“The realm of knowledge is so wide that it’s truly a test of cumulative knowledge,” Katz said.

Katz called the second half of the show a blur. As questions about sports and other unknown subjects arose, he tried his best to stay in the game. All the contestants struggled with the category of sports.

“At least I gave the tennis question a try and got it right,” Katz said.

Katz said that his only regret is the categories that the show covered.

“I received flak from people at Guilford for not answering the Frieda Kahlo question correctly and from New England (where he lived before moving to North Carolina) for the sports questions,” Katz said.

Katz did not win first place, but he did walk away with $2,000 for coming in second.

“It was a once in a lifetime shot and I’m very glad I did it,” Katz said.