Monday's contestants are Colby Burnett, Celeste DiNucci, and Tom Nissley. Colby has the distinction of never losing on the show -- he first appeared in (and won) the Teachers Tournament in 2012, and then won the Tournament of Champions in 2013. He teaches at the high school that he graduated from in Chicago and coaches the academic teams there. Celeste, from Philadelphia, won five games in 2006 and went on to win the ToC in 2007. Her semifinal game was memorable for having a rare tiebreaker question to decide the game. And Tom Nissley was selected as the "fan favorite" to compete in this tournament; his video was great, though I can't seem to get it to play anymore. He won 8 games (losing in the ToC to Roger Craig and all of his true Daily Doubles), and used his winnings to quit his job and write a really cool book, "A Reader's Book of Days," which I picked up at the bookstore last weekend.
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| Some memorabilia related to the contestants in this tournament. (left) Vijay's outstanding invite; (right) Tom Nissley's book. I guess I can say now that, in a way, both of these men have been in my kitchen. |
