Jeopardy! Second chance winner Melanie Hirsch opens up about her victory on Reddit

Jeopardy! Second chance semi-final no. 3 ended in a close match. 

Melanie Hirsch, who worked as an attorney in Silver Springs, won the competition. 

She won against medical student Andrew Wang from Illinois and stay-at-home father Aaron Himmel from Long Island. 

Melanie started a bit weak at the beginning of the episode. 

She was placed third on the leaderboard by the end of the first round. 

But she picked up momentum in the Double Jeopardy! round and gave a fierce fight. 

She won the show at the Final Jeopardy by answering correctly. 

Andrew Wang, on the other hand, lost all of his winnings. 

Aaron, though he answered correctly, did not bet anything, due to which his score remained the same. 

Melanie has discussed his victory on Reddit and stated that the win “boggles” her mind. 

Jeopardy! The second-chance winner, Melanie, discussed her victory on Reddit

After the episode was aired, Melanie took to Reddit and shared her experience on December 24, 2025
She wrote:

“Here's what I hoped to be able to do in my SCC game. Talk about my workplace, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, in my anecdote.” 

She did discuss more about her workplace during the episode.

Melanie said during the episode:

“ I work at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which is the federal agency that Congress set up after the financial crisis to help make sure that Americans are protected when they take out mortgages or they get a credit card. The agency has only been open for about 14 years, but in that time we have gotten 21 billion dollars back to consumers.” 

Melanie also talked about how getting her daily double correct was one of her goals during the show on the Reddit post

She wrote:

“ Get a daily double correct (I missed two in my first game).” 

Melanie further talked about her Final Jeopardy round win. 

She wrote:

“Get FJ correct (we had a triple stumper in my first game). Put a heart for my kiddos in my FJ response.” 

Melanie shared on the Reddit post how “triple tight” the competition was. 

She wrote:

“That I got to do all that and also win still boggles my mind. What a privilege to get to battle it out like that with Aaron and Andrew--I don't think I've ever seen a game as consistently triple-tight as this one, and it's so clear that any of us could have won.” 

She ended the post by hoping that the show gave the “audience a good Christmas present.” 

After winning the competition, she talked about the importance of preparation for the show. 

Melanie remarked in an interview with The Baltimore Banner:

“ I honestly don’t know if I would have gotten my answer correct had I not done that preparation. It was very gratifying to be able to pull that one out. ... You never have any idea what you’re going to get, and so you have to just be prepared for absolutely anything.” 

She further stated that the experience was “remarkable.” 

Melanie stated (via The Baltimore Banner):

“The whole thing was such a remarkable experience. All of this has been such a delightful surprise that I’m just grateful for every bit of it.”

Melanie just wants to focus on “things that are known” 

She states:

“To be able to spend these last 10 months thinking about, like, ‘What are all the world capitals? Can I recite all the presidents in order? What are all the Oscar-winning movies?’ That has been a very good coping mechanism. Just to try to focus on things that are known and true and certain.”

Stay tuned for more such updates.