Former ‘Jeopardy!’ champion’s identical twin is about to make his debut — key details revealed
"Jeopardy!" fans have seen everything from a star performer becoming a host to married couples competing on the show. But they're about to see something rare with identical twins playing together. Those who have followed the show for long know all about Ray Lalonde. He was a prolific player and a highly successful champion during his time, and now, his twin brother, Ron Lalonde, is set to take the stage. Ray appeared on the show in December 2022, winning 13 games and earning $388,400.
Now, Ray’s brother will attempt to repeat the same or even do better. As per a TV Insider report, Ron’s name was in the contestant pool when his brother was picked to play. Three years later, the Pittsburgh-based medical physicist is finally getting his chance. He did go to his multi-day champion brother for some advice.
“If you go up on stage, you’re nervous, your mouth is going to go dry, have some lozenges with you, don’t drink too much coffee,” Ray had said. “Focus on the buzzer, on the timing, because that’s pretty critical. It’s not just knowing the answers. It’s also getting to answer them by buzzing first. So that was a big part of it, the preparation,” he added. Turns out that Ron then went ahead and got himself a practice buzzer to prepare for the game.
The main thing, however, was to have fun, and Ray made sure to let his brother know of that. "We've all played this game on our couches, watching TV, but it was different on the stage. So we needed to definitely relax and enjoy the game,” he said as per a report in TB Newswatch.
Ron has already competed on the show, and the episode will air on December 3. He had Ray at the taping to support him, but the nerves before the show were still evident. “I was surprised at how nervous I was on stage because it was funny. I didn’t feel nervous in my head, but my legs would not stop shaking,” he said. Ron also revealed that Jennings had addressed him by his brother’s name a few times during the taping.
With Ray Lalonde in the audience, Jennings was sure to put some of the spotlight on a successful “Jeopardy!” contestant. Well, that is exactly what happened. For the former contestant, it was a lot of fun coming back to the set that he must have known quite well. "It was a lot of fun. It was more fun for me to be able to go down there (Los Angeles) and just enjoy the experience and see everybody, but not have to compete. It was really nice to see Ken and all the people down there again,” he said.
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