‘Jeopardy!’ Champion David Erb’s Hollywood Wife, Family Life & More
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David Erb could become a regular on our television screens if he continues his impressive Jeopardy! winning streak, but this isn’t his family’s first taste of fame.
The puzzle designer from Seattle, Washington, won his second game in a row on Tuesday night (September 25). During the episode, he revealed to host Ken Jennings that he’s married to best-selling author Bonnie Garmus, best known for her 2022 debut novel, Lessons in Chemistry.
“While she was writing her novel, she constantly told me, ‘It will probably never get published, and if it did, nobody would buy it,'” Erb recalled. “But Lessons in Chemistry was on the best-seller list for 99 weeks.”
Lessons in Chemistry was not only a global best seller, but it was also adapted into a 2023 Apple TV+ mini-series starring Brie Larson, Lewis Pullman, and Aja Naomi King.
Current #Jeopardy champ David just casually drops that he’s married to Bonnie Garmus, author of the wildly popular ‘Lessons in Chemistry’!
— Josh Martin (@JoshDMartin) September 24, 2024
The novel tells the story of Elizabeth Zott, who becomes a beloved cooking show host in 1960s Southern California after being fired as a chemist four years earlier. Oscar-winner Larson portrays Zott in the AppleTV+ adaptation.
“So, you’re gonna need to win a lot of Jeopardy, David, to be the big-name public intellectual in the family… it’s looking very unlikely,” Jennings quipped.
“Not a prayer,” Erb responded.
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Earlier this month, Garmus posted on Instagram about Erb’s upcoming appearance on Jeopardy!, writing, “Hey everybody! Tune into Jeopardy on September 23rd to see my husband, @erbdavid (David Erb) go up against some very smart contestants!”
She added, “And if you listen closely, you may hear yours truly along with our two kids cheering him on (somewhat loudly!) from the studio audience . We all had a great time! Thanks.”
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Per The Times, Erb and Garmus met in their twenties in a bookshop in Palo Alto, California, and for years, they marked their wedding anniversary by exchanging novels. “We stopped because we kept on buying the other one the same book,” Garmus told the outlet.
The couple has a family home in Seattle and two adopted daughters from China, Zoe and Sophie, who are now adults. They’ve also lived in Zurich (where Erb worked for YouTube as an Engineering Director) and London. They were actually stuck in London during the early stages of the 2020 pandemic, and it was during that time that Garmus worked on rewrites of her debut novel.
Back in July, David and Bonnie got together with famed author Jeffrey Archer and his wife Mary at their idyllic English country home in Grantchester, near Cambridge.
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Garmus is currently writing her second book, though she is keeping the details close to her chest. “I am writing another novel and I sometimes talk about it, but then regret it because I may end up taking out what I’ve talked about! So no spoilers from me!” she said in a BookNotions Q&A.
As for Erb, his background is in tech, having worked for Microsoft from 1995 to 2005 as an Engineering Manager. In addition to YouTube, he also worked for Google and Facebook. He now serves as the CEO of Good Thinking Games, a company that “creates original, free, fun, challenging puzzle games for mobile devices.”
Erb, who fans think resembles Clint Eastwood, won his second game of Jeopardy! on Tuesday for a two-day total of $57,143. He will return to the Alex Trebek stage on Wednesday (September 25) to try and continue his winning streak.
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