Last week, South Florida native Alec Chao received his first recreation of Jeopardy! incomes greater than $15,000 with the right reply, “Who is James Bond?” His wager? $305.
Usually, after the primary industrial break, contestants will inform a tacky story to the Jeopardy! host about successful their elementary spelling bee or proposing to their associate on high of the Eiffel Tower. Chao instructed Ken Jennings a special story.
“I used to be requested to DJ at a music competition in Miami, and it rained so arduous on the day of the competition that the firefighters and paramedics have been my viewers,” he says. “I feel they have been appreciative, however in addition they needed to be there.”
The competition Chao is referring to is III Points when in 2021, a Biblical downpour earlier than the Strokes’ set thwarted Chao’s set.
Spinning below the title Xiaochi, Chao’s love for music runs deep, however his connection to Jeopardy! could even be extra profound.
“I instructed myself that I’m fulfilling a dream simply by being on the present,” Chao tells New Times when requested if he anticipated to win. “My grandfather, who was an immigrant from Cuba and moved to New York, was a really clever man, and he utilized to be on the unique version of Jeopardy! and was invited to maneuver onto the second spherical, from my understanding, and he simply did not go. So it feels particular to be technically the second individual in my household to be on the present.”
Chao described lastly making it onto the present as an arduous but gratifying expertise that took years. “I utilized to all of the associated Jeopardy! editions: youngsters Jeopardy!, the faculty event, and in September of 2021, I utilized for the common version.”
He took a number of assessments, accomplished purposes, and carried out numerous interviews earlier than setting foot within the Alex Trebek Studio in Los Angeles in January 2023. He received by means of one present earlier than Tamara Ghattas of Chicago stole the crown within the following episode.
While you’ll now not see Chao on ABC, you possibly can count on him to drop a sizzling mixture of ambient techno, downtempo, jungle, and different bassy tunes on his SoundCloud.
He could even seem at a membership close to you when he is again on the town. (Chao not too long ago moved to Washington, D.C., to work for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.)
“I went to [the University of Miami], and I joined [radio station] WVUM my freshman 12 months,” Chao says. “I fell into the group. It modified the construction of my life, actually, and I took the present over when the present host was graduating. I had no concept what I used to be doing and could not profess to know of the membership scene.”
Rather than rave for 48 hours straight, Chao took the educational root by researching and studying about Miami’s prolonged club-music scene and instructing himself DJ.
“I used to be a historical past main, and the nightlife scene actually spoke to me.” He then adopted the stage title Xiaochi, the Mandarin phrase for road meals and an homage to his Chinese-Cuban roots.
Through his work at WVUM, Chao ultimately linked up with native DJ Priscilla Cavalcante (AKA House of Pris), who invited him to play and curate a present at Over/Under in 2020. Chao described the night as his “first actual gig,” the place he then went on to play reveals like a WVUM fundraiser at Floyd.
Though the rain throughout III Points 2021 introduced technical difficulties, Chao took the competition in stride. He performed a “crunchy” bass-overdrive set, not figuring out sooner or later he can be telling the story to hundreds of thousands of viewers on America’s favourite syndicated recreation present.
“It was such a formative expertise for me. It was so unusual with the rain, nevertheless it was a lot enjoyable. I feel anybody who DJs can inform a narrative a couple of set that went fallacious — and that was what I wished to inform.”