Three episodes into his reign as a “Jeopardy!” champion, after winning another round on Wednesday evening’s broadcast, Lawrence Long has had to adapt to being an Internet celebrity.
Locally, the East Bend resident has been the subject of a slew of playful memes on the “Just Winston-Salem Memes” Facebook group, often using his nickname, “Skip.” And all over social media, there are posts about everything from his wagering strategy to his self-described job as a “stay-at-home uncle” to his 11-year-old niece.
Long is taking it all with good humor. “As with all superpowers, it’s a blessing and a curse,” he said.
Long said he has gotten “requests to do birthday texts and all sorts of stuff. I should probably make an NFT (non-fungible token) or something like that … which I will not do.”
Forsyth Tech Community College, where he is a nursing student, tweeted “Congratulations to you, Lawrence! We’re so proud of you & thrilled you’ve made Forsyth Tech YOUR place of promise!”
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And his alma mater, Clemson University, also congratulated him on Twitter and encouraged its alumni to “tune in and cheer on our fellow Tiger!”
Jeopardy Contestant Fashion 2/7/22
— Lilly (@OneEclecticMom) February 8, 2022
Lawrence Long
I need to know everything about Lawrence and his life as a nursing student/stay-at-home uncle and his amazing wardrobe. I had to look back at when the last jacket + vest combo was (Jeff, 11/15, both navy blue)#Jeopardy pic.twitter.com/Ux98xj2DTe
Twitter user OneEclecticMom, who follows fashion trends on the show, has posted daily comments complimenting his “amazing wardrobe.” She also speculated which mustachioed celebrity would play him in “his eventual biopic,” suggesting Thomas Lennon, Will Forte or Neil Patrick Harris.
And one particular topic of conversation is his line of “work.” A Twitter post about him being a “stay-at-home uncle” has gotten more than 131,000 likes, with such comments as “it is heartbreaking watching someone else live out your dream” and “this is exactly how I imagine a stay-at-home uncle looking.” Others posted pictures of Uncle Jesse from “Full House.”
“My niece enjoys it probably more than I do,” he said of his newfound notoriety. “I did not expect it to go viral, I guess. The nice things people are saying are wonderful, and you have to divorce yourself from the negative. … It’s an adrenaline rush and then you have to adjust to it.”
I love everyone on #Jeopardy but when someone's job is "stay at home uncle," I'm going to love them a little bit more.
— Jas (@runflamingo) February 8, 2022
His niece was particularly happy with Tuesday night’s episode, in which he discussed the fact that he had promised her a trip to Hawaii if she learned the names and state capitals of all 50 states, a task she accomplished much faster than he had expected.
“She said she had evidence now and I definitely owed her that trip to Hawaii,” he said. That’s something that will be much easier with his winnings on the show.
After winning on Wednesday’s episode, Long has now won a total of $74,792. He won $31,201 on Wednesday. In Final Jeopardy, he correctly identified San Diego as the location featured in the first video ever posted to YouTube.
Host Mayim Bialik complimented him on his skill in the Final Jeopardy rounds, pointing out that in his first two episodes he had been the only contestant to get the Final Jeopardy question right. Wednesday, one other competitor also got it right, but she fell short of his final score.
Long will compete again in his fourth round on “Jeopardy!” Thursday at 7:30 p.m. on WFMY CBS-2.
