Cimini scores spot in ‘Jeopardy!’ semifinals

“Who is Albert Einstein?”

With a wager of $7,200 and a correct question to the Final Jeopardy answer in the first episode of the 2005 “Jeopardy!” College Championship Monday night, Boston University College of Arts and Sciences junior Beth Cimini secured a place in the quiz show’s semifinal round.

Cimini finished the show with $28,900. Her competitor from Purdue University got the Final Jeopardy clue, too, but ended with $11,300. The night’s last-place finisher from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill originally wrote the correct answer, but crossed it out and ended with $1.

The clue said: “He declined the offer to lead a country and once said ‘Politics is for the president, an equation is … for eternity.'”

More than 75 of Cimini’s classmates, friends and family gathered in BU Central to watch her win the first round of the competition, the first night in the two-week tournament. Cimini said she was happy that so many of the people close to her were able to attend.

“All my friends made it,” she said. “It was really great that my family came up to see it.”

Cimini’s father, Don Cimini, said he was proud that “Jeopardy!” offered others the opportunity to acknowledge his daughter’s achievements.

“The atmosphere was unbelievable,” he said. “You love to see your child succeed. It just reinforces what I believe about her.”

Cimini’s family members found different ways to celebrate her national television appearance. Cimini’s father joked that he will dock his employees an hour’s pay if they did not watch the show tonight. Meghan Cimini, a freshman at Syracuse University and younger sister of Cimini, held a party with 40 of her friends at school to watch the show.

Family friend Meghan Fay, who works in BU’s Office of Development and Alumni Relations, said she helped organize the event in conjunction with the Dean of Students Office when she found out Cimini would be on the show.

Dean of Students Assistant Michael Pereira said the event at BU Central was a way for students to come together to support a classmate.

“It was amazing to see BU students come together to root on someone they didn’t necessarily know,” he said.

Cimini said it was a relief to know that she did well and that she would not be embarrassed by a poor performance.

“It was really nice having everyone watch me do a good job,” she said. “I was afraid that I would do really badly.”

Cimini’s father said his daughter had an edge over the other contestants because she was able to plan out what amount of money to wager in a smart way.

“She’s not only bright,” he said, “she’s very strategic.”

Fay said Cimini won over the audience because she was so likable. “She’s got a lot of personality,” she said.

Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences sophomore Greta Mangini said she sings with Cimini in the a cappella group Aural Fixation. Mangini said she was not surprised that Cimini finished first, but her favorite part of the show was when another contestant rang in faster than Cimini to answer a question about choral music.

“She missed the a cappella question,” she said. “That was great.”

The hardest part about the early taping was keeping the result of the show from her friends and family, Cimini said, but it should not be difficult to withhold next week’s results from everyone.

“If I’ve been keeping [last night’s results secret] for five weeks,” she said, “another week won’t be too bad.”

Pereira said he was excited to see how Cimini will fare in next week’s show and that Dean Kenneth Elmore will most likely attend the showing of Cimini’s semifinal match next Wednesday.

“We’re all waiting to see how she will do in the next round,” he said. “Dean Elmore is really excited.”

CAS junior Aaron Smith, who has known Cimini since they took two classes together freshman year, said he predicts she will do very well next week.

“[I think] she won it all,” he said. “She’s quite possibly the smartest person I know.”