Madabushi grew up with an interest in trivia, inspired in part by his family’s tradition of sitting together each night to watch Jeopardy!. And, in early 2019, he decided on a whim to take the Jeopardy! online aptitude test. To his surprise, he was invited to audition a few months later.

Madabushi was one of around 300 students chosen for this opportunity in San Francisco. In the end, he was selected to compete with students from around the United States in the 2019 Teen Tournament. He finished in the quarterfinals of that tournament, winning $5,000.

He says he was extremely surprised and excited for the chance to compete once again on Jeopardy!, as contestants who have already appeared once are not allowed to try out again, unless invited back. 

With this latest opportunity to compete on the game show, Madabushi hopes to finish stronger than before. He says one of his greatest advantages is his buzzer speed.

“I think my biggest strength is being fast on the buzzer. In high school, I competed in a lot of buzzer competitions for Science Bowl, so I feel being fastest to the answers is what I’m leaning on,” Madabushi explained.

The winner of this 14-day reunion tournament will receive a $100,000 grand prize and a spot in the Tournament of Champions.

Watch Madabushi compete today at 7:30 p.m. on NBC’s Jeopardy! hosted by The Big Bang Theory actress Mayim Bialik.