What is “life-changing”?
A now-50-year-old divorcé was left drowning in debt after his split — but “Jeopardy!” changed it all.
Robert Slaven, who split from his wife of six years after having two children, said he “was able to turn [his] life around” thanks to the long-running game show, with winnings that exceeded $130,000.
Slaven was buried in an estimated $30,000 to $40,000 worth of legal and “retail therapy” debt, he told Business Insider in an as-told-to essay.
It wasn’t until the long-time “Jeopardy!” viewer and Canadian saw an ad calling for game show contestants in the Los Angeles area ahead of his business trip to Utah in the early ’90s.
“I thought Utah, that’s in the Los Angeles area,” he told Insider. “Only a 10-hour drive.”
While there was “no guarantee” he would get a callback, a week after the audition, his phone rang with “that life-changing call, telling me I was going to be on the show.”
And the rest was history: He went on to be a five-time champion in Season 8, earning a whopping $53,000.
He could “could finally pay off those bills, with a little extra left over” — and even marry the woman of his dreams.
The pair previously met in Vancouver, British Columbia, during Slaven’s brief stint in the city post-divorce, but at the time, he “felt bad” about his accumulated debt and let the spark fade away.
But after scoring big on the game show, the freshly debt-free bachelor could finally pursue a relationship with her, and invited her to watch the “Jeopardy!” shows with him in 1992 when they aired. The first night, he popped the question underneath the breathtaking views of the starry sky as the Northern Lights danced above them.
He used what was left over from his winnings to buy the ring, too.
They tied the knot that spring and have been married for 31 years — and counting — and even welcomed four children of their own together.
Following their nuptials, Slaven went on to compete in “Jeopardy!” numerous times, racking up a staggering $130,000 in winnings over the course of his game show career.
“Without ‘Jeopardy!’, I would have just plugged along, eventually paying off those bills, but I don’t think I would have met anyone else like my wife,” he told Insider.
“It allowed me to get myself on this great start with this great person I now share my life with.”
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