Jeopardy contestant Dan Czekalski may be a project manager from Columbia, South Carolina, but he got his first big break back when he was in college.
Czekalski was competing on Wednesday’s (May 3) episode of Jeopardy when he stunned the audience and host Mayim Bialik with a fun fact.
“So, when I was in college in Charleston, South Carolina, we found out a movie production was coming to town,” he explained.“One of my roommates lucked into the job of assistant to the executive producer. I somehow parlayed that into a speaking role in The Notebook.”
The 2004 romantic drama starred Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams as a passionate young couple ripped apart by their social differences. It helped launch both of their careers and sparked an off-screen romance between the actors that lasted about two years.
The project manager played an army recruitment officer in the film. Though his screen time was brief, he shared a scene with Gosling.
“They ended up cutting it down so you only see the side of my face for a couple of seconds,” he said. “But I’m still in the credits!”
Bialik laughed, saying, “That’s still pretty awesome.”
Czekalski may have a future of his own as a romantic lead, as someone commented on the clip on Instagram, noting, “He is GORGEOUS.”
Someone else commented, “I wish Dan had won and would have come back!! He was a great guy to watch!!”
Czekalski tweeted about his game show appearance Thursday (May 4) morning, thanking viewers for their support. “Since I now have a whole SEVEN followers: thanks for the @Jeopardy support everyone! It was an amazing experience and couldn’t have asked for better contestants/human beings in Kevin & Hannah! Shout out to Jeopardy! crew as well – all awesome ppl!” he tweeted.
His opponent Kevin Belle responded, saying, “It was great playing with you – at least we can both say that we ran into a buzzsaw. Hope you can parlay this into another speaking role in a future romantic drama.”
Wednesday was Belle’s third day competing in a row. Belle and Czekalski lost to their opponent Hannah Wilson, ending Belle’s three-day streak at $42,798.
Despite capturing audience members’ hearts, Czekalski finished the show in second place with $2,000.
Jeopardy! airs on weeknights at 7/6c on ABC.
The post ‘Jeopardy!’ Contestant Stuns Audience When He Reveals He Appeared in This Iconic Romance Movie appeared first on Decider.
