Meggie Kwait, a humanities teacher at the Beit Rabban Day School on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, was one of 14 contestants during the recent Teachers’ Tournament sponsored by the “Jeopardy” quiz show. She won two rounds to make it into the two-game final, where she finished second to a music teacher from Michigan. The experience netted her $50,000 in prize money and bragging rights about her experience.

The giveaway that she was indeed Jewish occurred when she placed an $18 bet in a segment called Final Jeopardy. She was so far ahead in the game that she couldn’t lose, so the wager was more symbolic than competitive. “That was when all the Jews realized I was Jewish,” she told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

“My overriding memory of it is just exhilaration and excitement,” she said. “Some people have said to me ‘Oh, I’m so sad you lost,’ but I really don’t feel that way. I know it sounds cheesy, but I felt like I was winning from the moment I got there.”