More than a hundred friends and family of Dan Jensen gathered at Champs Americana of Reston on Thursday to watch every screen in the many-screen sports bar and restaurant tuned into Jeopardy.

They were there to see one of their own - Jensen, the restaurant's 28-year-old service manager, was competing on the game show.

Jensen won on Thursday, and then returned to win again Friday for a two-day total of $40,202.

"It was kind of surreal," said Jensen. "My face was on every screen."

Jensen, a 2000 graduate of South Lakes High School who still lives in Reston,  said that appearing on Jeopardy had been on his list of things to do since he competed on  It's Academic, the local, high school quiz show aired on NBC4.

He says he got motivated in January of 2010, when he took a contestant's test. He did well, and in May the producers called him for an in-person tryout at a Washington-area hotel.

"They do a mock game," he said. "They see how you look and how you will do on TV."

In late September, he was asked to come to Los Angeles for a show taping.

"I was nervous," he admits. "But I had been on TV before, with It's Academic, and did a [recurring] radio show in college at James Madison."

Clearly, Jensen overcame his nerves. He won the round that aired Thursday, and won Friday's round, entering Final Jeopardy up by $2,000 before answering the Final Jeopardy question "Of all the Spanish-speaking countries, which one is last alphabetically?" (Answer: What is Venezuela).

Jensen is  contractually prohibited from reveling what happens next. Whatever money he did win he has not seen yet - there is a several-month lag from air time to payout.

"Everyone wins some money," he said. "But I know I will have to pay taxes on it, and I plan to pay off a big chunk of my student loans."

Jeopardy airs locally on ABC7 weekdays at 7:30 p.m.