Chatham resident Vijay Balse won a total of $82,400 over the course of four days as a contestant on ABC's "Jeopardy!" But he has been an unofficial contestant from the comfort of his living room for years.  

He and his wife Jayshree Kumta both love "Jeopardy!" and, while watching it together, they challenge one another. During the final contest of the show, when contestants write down answers on electronic pads, the couple takes out slips of paper and starts scribbling.

"He writes his answer, I write my answer," Kumta said.  

Balse is a chemical engineer and Kumta is a physician; the brainy couple both watched and loved Jeopardy separately prior to getting married. Balse added that Kumta fully supported him when he was picked to be on "Jeopardy!"

"My wife's encouragement helped a lot," he said.

Watching the show, alone and with his wife, was one of the best things he did to prepare to be a contestant, he added.

He also said he prepared himself by reading a lot on the subject in which he's weakest—liberal arts topics.

He also drew from trivia knowledge and experience he gained on the quiz bowl team as a college student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. 

Balse, however, didn't have much time to prepare. He tried out for the show in November of last year, and it was 3 1/2 weeks from the time he received notice of his contestant status by phone until the actual taping of "Jeopardy!"

He added that he feels much of his success in the game came from simply good fortune, as all the contestants picked to be on the show are very good and competition is fierce.

"I think I did quite well, I was very lucky to do that well," he said. "I was lucky to be on four games."

Balse also met host Alex Trebek in person. He said he was impressed with how personable he seemed.

"He takes questions from the audience during break, he's quite happy to interact with the audience," he said, adding "he's a very smart guy and a very personable guy … he's very spontaneous with his humor."

While some people do get stage fright, Balse said he was calm during the show, thanks to its coordinators. The shows featuring Balse were on the air March 4, 5, 8 and 9.

"The contestant coordinators do a wonderful job of putting you at ease, so when you get on stage, you're very relaxed, you just focus on the buzzer and that's it," he said. "You ignore all the noise. Some people do get nervous, but I was able to keep my cool, ignoring everything but the game."

Balse said he considers "Jeopardy!" to be one of the best shows on television. He started watching it in 1995 when he first came to the U.S.

"I've been watching it ever since," he added. "I have a general interest in knowledge—there's so many fascinating things going on in the world. 'Jeopardy!' happens to be one of the best academic oriented television programs."

And to him, "Jeopardy!" is also an endlessly popular and stable one.

"Other quiz shows have come and gone," he said. "But not 'Jeopardy!'"