Standing next to a televised broadcast of herself, Laura Lorson described her high-pressure experience on the television game show “Jeopardy!”

“It’s just like your life is ebbing away,” she said about the song that plays during Final Jeopardy. “It’s just trickling through your fingertips.”

Entering Final Jeopardy, Lorson was in third place. The answer: This president was serving in the White House when our current president was born.

Lorson offered an incorrect question, but she hadn’t bid anything, so she held on to her total of $11,400.

Kansas Public Radio host Laura Lorson spreads her arms in front of a television broadcast of Wednesday's episode of Jeopardy!, on which she appeared, at a watch party Wednesday at the Oread hotel, 1200 Oread Ave. Lorson was the game's champion, and will return in Thursday's episode.

When Lorson’s two opponents couldn’t come up the correct question: — who is John F. Kennedy? — and both bid away their earnings, Lorson rocketed to first place, meaning she got to come back for another episode as a returning champion.

“I went in with exactly one strategy,” she said. “If you’re behind and doubling your money won’t put you in the lead, bet zero.”

Dozens gathered at the Oread hotel, 1200 Oread Ave., Wednesday afternoon to watch the local resident compete on the game show.

Lorson, the host of Kansas Public Radio’s “All Things Considered,” said the process to compete on the show began in late 2013 and ended when her episodes were taped this January.

Since the show’s taping, Lorson said she has been unable to reveal the outcome, which has proven difficult.

KPR Media Manager Phil Wilke said he’s worked with Lorson for over a decade, and he wasn’t surprised to hear she made it on the show.

“She is just a remarkably well-educated, literate, well-read and well-informed person all around,” he said.

As the show aired, Lorson stood by the television joking with her audience and sharing behind-the-scenes details.

“By the way, that board is huge. It’s like two stories tall,” she said. “It’s terrifying.”

For nearly the entire show Lorson was bringing up the rear, but she assured viewers the game would heat up soon.

Still sworn to secrecy, Lorson said viewers will simply have to tune in again on Thursday to find out what happens.