Nationality American Employer U.S. Courts | Name Michael Dupee Role Author | |
Full Name Michael George Dupee Born October 23, 1966 (age 57) ( 1966-10-23 ) Lawrence, Massachusetts, U.S. Residence Gainesville, Florida, U.S. Occupation Environmental Lawyer
Author
Physicist
Computer Programmer
Webmaster Known for 10-time Jeopardy! champion
Author of definitive book on competing on Jeopardy! Religion United Methodist Church Books How to Get on Jeopardy and Win: Valuable Information from a Champion Alma mater Emory University, Fredric G. Levin College of Law | ||
Michael George "Mike" Dupée (born October 23, 1966) is an American game show contestant and author who played on the U.S. syndicated game show Jeopardy! At the time that he won the 1996 Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions, he was the 4th biggest winner in Jeopardy! history. Between 1996 and 2005, Dupée was one of only 2 players who competed on Jeopardy! without ever losing a game.
Contents
In 2005, the undefeated Dupée was invited to participate in the Jeopardy! Ultimate Tournament of Champions, where he was defeated for the first time by Robert Slaven in his 2nd game of the tournament. He was defeated a second time in the 2014 where he lost by $2,300 to Brad Rutter. His total earnings on Jeopardy! are $203,901, consisting of $66,401 from his original 5-day run, $100,000 prize in the 1996 Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions, $32,500 from the Jeopardy! Ultimate Tournament of Champions, and $5,000 from the Battle of the Decades.
Following his success on Jeopardy!, Dupée wrote about his experience and provided practice questions in his book How to Get on Jeopardy! and Win!, which was praised by 75-time Jeopardy! winner Ken Jennings as the best preparation for competing on Jeopardy! In 2000, Dupée wrote How to Be a TV Quiz Show Millionaire detailing how contestant wanna-bes could try out for various U.S. TV game shows, including Jeopardy! and Who Wants to be a Millionaire.
Early life
Born in Lawrence, Massachusetts, Dupée grew up in Hokkaido, Japan (1969-1971), where his father worked on military projects.
Dupée attended Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, where he majored in Physics. He chose Physics as his major because his father told him to pick the hardest major that he found fun. Then, he attended the University of Florida Levin College of Law in Gainesville, Florida, where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the Florida Law Review. The Florida Law Review is the most prestigious legal journal at the University. They take in articles from legal scholars and edit them and publish them in a book. During college and law school, Dupee represented both schools in College Bowl Academic Tournaments around the country.
Jeopardy!
In May 1995, Michael Dupée was one of only 28 people to pass the Jeopardy! try-out exam out of the 300 who took it at a contestant-search in Cleveland, Ohio.
Using game theory analysis, Michael Dupée discovered a new Final Jeopardy! betting strategy called the "Two-Thirds" scenario. According to Dupée, if the 2nd place score is more than 2/3 of the leader's score, then the 2nd place player should only bet enough that if he misses, he will still have more than the leader would have if he also misses the question. This scenario assumes the leader will make the usual bet of betting enough to have $1.00 more than the 2nd place player if the 2nd place player doubles his money. Dupee used this betting strategy to win his semi-final game in the 1996 Tournament of Champions against Shane Whitlock, who was leading going into Final Jeopardy!
Professional life
During 1994-96, Dupée had a two-year judicial clerkship with the Honorable Robert Krupansky in Cleveland, Ohio.
During the summer of 1996, Dupée worked as the Assistant Head Counselor at Camp Canadensis, in Canadensis, Pennsylvania.
From the fall of 1996 until the present, Dupee has worked as an attorney in Gainesville, Florida for the U.S. District Court. He has also been a contributing writer to the American Law Reports Fifth.
Personal life
Dupée’s grandmother, "Memere", who lived until 101, played Scrabble right up until age 100. She used to solve Wheel of Fortune puzzles with no letters showing.
Dupée met his wife, Zana, at the University of Florida, which they both attended. His daughter Zadia is now a senior at the University of Florida, studying Biochemistry. She missed only 1 question when she took the SAT.
Dupée likes sports. He has coached over 30 seasons of children’s soccer, football, and baseball. Dupee is an avid fan of the University of Florida Gators football Team. He attends Gator team practices that are open to the public and reads all the stats.
Dupée is also a big supporter of the Boy Scouts of America. His older son Spencer is 19 and is an Eagle Scout. Spencer is attending the University of Florida College of Engineering majoring in Electrical Engineering. His younger son Charlie is 14 and is a Second Class Scout in the Boy Scouts.
In 2013, Dupée was serving as Cubmaster of a Cub Scout Pack and was named Alachua County Cubmaster of the Year. In 2016, Dupée served as Director of the Alachua County Cub Scout Day Camp. Dupee is currently an Assistant ScoutMaster with Troop 454 chartered by Trinity United Methodist Church.