Subscriber Exclusive: A chat with a Jeopardy! expert about North Carolina's Stay-at-Home Uncle

The Ringer's Claire McNear literally wrote the book about Jeopardy! So I pressed her for inside information about how a contestant like Skip Long became so beloved so quickly.

Host Mayim Bialik and contestant/stay-at-home uncle “Skip” Long on the set of Jeopardy! (Photo via Jeopardy Productions, Inc.)

As you may have seen, Lawrence “Skip” Long of East Bend, North Carolina has become an instant legend thanks to the following things:

• His appearances this week on Jeopardy! (He’s won three games thus far!)

• His mustache

• His stories about conch shells and dinghy rescues

• His stated occupation: Stay-at-Home Uncle

I wrote about all of this in this week’s free newsletter. But! I’m lucky enough to know Claire McNear, a reporter with The Ringer who wrote what I consider to be the definitive Jeopardy! book, and also broke a story that led to the eventual resignation of new host-in-waiting Mike Richards. She knows the show, its producers, its mechanisms, and its contestants like few do. So, I asked her to explain how Skip Long was able to make the most of his time on a show that leaves very little room to show personality.

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