"Who is Fidel Castro?"
That's the answer that snagged Grand Forks native Gavin Borchert $19,600 on Wednesday's airing of the game show "Jeopardy!"
The question, "A landmark 1957 New York Times story called him 'a powerful six-footer, olive-skinned ... with a straggly beard,' " boosted Borchert to the win.
Borchert is a 1982 Grand Forks Red River High School graduate who has lived in Seattle since 1994. He currently is a writer for the newspaper Seattle Weekly.
On Wednesday night, Borchert told the Herald his appearance on the long-running game show came after more than a year of waiting.
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He took the first admission test online in February 2016 and, after a few more auditions, finally taped at the end of March 2017.
Borchert will appear again Thursday, although the episode was taped earlier. Though he can't say how he will fare on Thursday's episode-due to confidentiality agreements with the show-he said the experience was one of a lifetime.
"It was literally the funnest thing I've ever done in my life," Borchert said. "You're there the whole day, and you meet everyone. They want everyone to be excited and not nervous. It was amazing."
Oh, and he says Alex Trebek is "super nice."
Watch Borchert at 5 p.m. Thursday on CBS.
