#jamie ding

Elyse Wanshel at HuffPost:

After the magazine pointed out to Ding — who has been called a “humble king” and the “nicest ‘Jeopardy!’ champ of all time” by fans — that his long stint on the game show brought people together in part because of his positive personality, Ding took the opportunity to slyly call out President Donald Trump and his administration’s aggressive immigration crackdown via Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Ding noted to the magazine that “as an immigrant and a person of color, I was able to become part of the history of an American institution.” “‘Jeopardy!’ really is an institution and America’s turning 250 years old and the federal government is going after immigrants in a way unlike anything that we’ve seen in the recent past,” he told People. “So I hope that immigrants can be seen in a positive light too.” Ding’s parents emigrated from Beijing, China. He was born in Australia and is a naturalized U.S. citizen.

While on “Jeopardy!”, Ding kept tidbits about his personal life pretty light — like how his favorite color is orange and there’s a drink named after him at his alma mater, Princeton. But in reality, it doesn’t seem like Ding shies away from more controversial topics, like politics.

He’s currently involved in a federal court fight to prevent the Justice Department from obtaining the state’s complete voter registration list, a database containing the personal information of over 6.6 million New Jerseyans, the New Jersey Globe reports. And if Ding’s “Jeopardy!” streak is any indication, he’s not afraid of a fight. The General Tso’s Chicken fan was unafraid to make big wagers and had a knack for inching ahead even when he was behind. Before losing to Greg Shahade Monday night, Ding encountered a tough opponent in Dominex Kovacs during the April 8 episode, in which Kovacs was ahead, but eventually lost to Ding in Final Jeopardy (this time, purely by luck — see below).