After a wild ride, Austin High School graduate Matt Larson couldn’t survive past the first day as “Jeopardy!” champion.

Larson walked away from the show with $6,599, the amount he won on Monday plus $1,000 for playing on Tuesday. Although he answered several tough questions, Larson chased contestant Ty Cone, a New York federal law clerk, for much of the game before losing everything on the Final Jeopardy! question.

Calls to Larson were not immediately returned.

Larson, who graduated from Wheaton College in 2006 with a degree in International Studies, works as a technical support specialist for Medtronic near Boulder, Colo.

He applied for the game show online in February 2009, answering 50 questions and doing well enough to place him in a prospects pool. Jeopardy! producers called him in May for an audition in California, where Larson took a written test and went through a trial game, answering questions from a podium so the producers could see whether he was TV-ready.

They told him he was eligible to be on the show for the next 18 months, but Larson didn’t get called. Not until last December — more than 18 months later — that is.

“I sort of figured I was out of the running,” he said previously.

Larson flew out with his wife Ali, his sister-in-law and his parents to throw down against two other contestants for a shot at Jeopardy! fame. The TV taping took place last February.

“It’s kind of surreal in a way,” he said. “It’s like your stepping into this TV world.”

To see Larson’s Winner’s Circle video, go to: www.jeopardy.com/beacontestant/winnerscircle.