How I got there, or my road to Jeopardy!

My first memories of Jeopardy are from when I was working at K-mart. I started my junior year, and worked there until a few months after high school graduation. My evening break was usually during the time it was on, and other people would be watching it in the break room. This would have been around 1989-90. I would call out answers, and amaze the adults, and they would say that I should be on the show.

That was a nice thought, but I never thought of it as a real possibility until my senior year at U of O, when I saw an ad to try out for the college tournament. I did apply, and I was invited to audition. This happened in November 1995.

I actually wrote a little about that time at http://sporkful.blogspot.com/2006/06/my-weekend-with-baywatch-babe.html, but it doesn’t really mention much about the tryout. Obviously I did not get on, and that was discouraging, but one thing I realized is that with a tournament there are only fifteen slots, so your odds of getting in are much worse, though the cash guarantees if you get in are much better. We took a written test on the Jeopardy sound stage, and since I did not get called back to play the practice game, I knew I had missed too many. I can tell you that one of the questions was about the author of Trees, because I could not remember Joyce Kilmer while I was in there, but the moment I left the studio I did.

I was not at my best then. Things on my mind included my father leaving my mother, the dorm RA being missing and presumed dead (that presumption was correct), and desperately wanting to talk to “Mitch”, but also having been stupid with him and being fairly sure that he saw through it. In those ways, it was a kind of rough weekend. On the plus side, I came to an epiphany that we desperately needed a vacation, my family bought in, and that started our Disneyland tradition. Also, life did go on.

I am not sure exactly when I started trying out regularly, but I do remember at one point being discouraged, but one contestant on the show, Wes Ulm, mentioned that he had tried out five times before he got on, and he made it into the Tournament of Champions. Actually, he was in the same tournament as Bob Harris, author of Prisoner of Trebekistan. Also, a few seasons ago a tournament winner, Vijay, had tried out nine times, I think, so part of it is just realizing that it is hard to get on.

The process has changed some now. My first two times at least, there was not an online test, and only people who got enough right on the written test played the practice game. (They stop counting when they hit the right number, and you never find out how you did, if anyone is wondering.) Now with the online test, you still do a written test at the audition, but everyone plays the practice game—maybe I should call it an audition game—but also everyone there has been somewhat qualified by the online test.

So, you take the online test, get a mysterious number correct, and get invited to an audition. At the time you take the test, you are asked to pick which city would be best for you. My first non-Teen Tournament audition was in Seattle, then there was one in Portland on the waterfront, two in Portland on Alder. Those were all pretty easy to get to.

The next invitation was for Los Angeles. This was a concern, especially as I was unemployed, but Julie let me use her frequent flyer miles for the airfare, and I had Travelocity bonus points for the hotel. What I did not have was good health, which was somewhat related to the lack of insurance, but there were some bad decisions there too. While I was in the emergency room, getting IV antibiotics, Mom came in and told me that our cousin had died. I’m not sure how that compares to my first audition weekend, but it ended up not being an audition weekend. I had to cancel, and it was really a bummer. On the plus side, we were still able to use the credits and miles for other things, so that helped a little.

The chance came around again, this time in Seattle. One thing that is really important is that I tried to improve every time. The first few times I did not pass the written test, and then when I did, I did poorly in the practice game. The next time I was looser with that, but I still was not called. All you know is that if you did okay, you are in the file, and may be called over the next eighteen months. I was thinking it could be two things. Maybe I had too many blackout dates (that tryout was the year I was going to Australia), or maybe it was personality.

The dates were easy to fix—I put none. Sure we had booked a trip to Disneyland, but that’s the same area. I would make it work. We were booking a trip to Mexico and a cruise, but we could reschedule. I was going to be free.

Personality was tougher. I told myself that I would have to make small talk with the other people trying out. In a stressful situation, I like to turn inward, but this time I was going to force myself outward. That was a mitigated success, as I did make some small talk, but other people withdraw too, and I can’t handle rejection. I did some visiting. During the interview, though, I was charming. I flashed my smile, made jokes, and when they took my photo I stuck my chin out, lowered my eyes, and started looking up as they took the photo. That’s supposed to be good.

There was one more display of confidence needed. For my five facts about me, instead of just putting that I am an aspiring screenwriter, I put “After you choose me for this, I hope to someday return to the Celebrity Tournament as a successful screenwriter/filmmaker.”

Honestly, I’m not sure that I was doing the eye/chin thing right, but something worked. The audition was on a Tuesday and they called me that Friday. Oh yeah.