Fresno man wins big on 'Jeopardy'

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- A Fresno man is on cloud nine after winning big on Jeopardy this week.

"This Fresno State alum is gonna be on Jeopardy. Who is Peter Guekguezian? That's me!" he exclaimed.

It's a hometown howdy that's made the Valley proud.

"Peter," host Alex Trebek called.

"What are Vietnam and Laos?" he answered.

"That's right!"

Peter went to University High and got his master's at Fresno State. Now he's graduating from USC with a Ph.D., and after three wins this week, he's walking away with a big prize.

"$46,800 pre-tax," he said. "So yeah, that's more than I've earned in my yearly salary in a long time so, yes it's nice. It's a pretty penny."

And as for watching himself on national TV, he says it's priceless.

"The first night it was just surreal," he said. "I mean this is a show I've been watching since like I was a baby and everyone knows 'Jeopardy' of course, everyone knows Alex. And to see myself up there was just really surreal."

"And then by the third or fourth night, I'm like, 'Yup that's me on TV again.' You get used to it very quickly."

And he's been preparing for it his whole life by reading newspapers, watching TV news, reading novels, comic books and plenty more.

"It's something I can always be proud of," he said. "It's sort of, I wanna say the Mount Everest of nerd culture to get on Jeopardy, and hey, winning three times is not bad."