The only non-dance page on the site, dedicated to the worthy cause of chronicling Laura’s rise to game show fame*
*such as it may be
Update 4/30/2011: Audition Report!
I got hom yesterday evening from my audition adventure. It was a lot of fun! I think I did well, but not super-amazingly perfect. Being competitive and a perfectionist, I of course wish I’d done a little better. However, according to the coordinators, we are all in the “contestant pool” for the next 18 months. The earliest we might be called is July because the next season starts taping in August. Of course, they will not end up calling everyone, but they give no indication of who’s “in” and who’s “out.” So it’s wait-and-see time.
The field of prospective contestants is smaller than I expected: the coordinators said they’d see about 400 people total on this round of auditions. In my session there were about 20 of us and they only did 3 sessions of auditions (9:00, 11:30, and 3:00). When I arrived at the Hard Rock Hotel around 8:30 there were already 2 or 3 other would-be contestants milling around outside the meeting room. One of them was a blind man who had come with his wife (also blind); I mention it because I was really impressed with how well the coordinators took care of the people who needed accommodations for disabilities without making anyone feel self-conscious or bogging down the process. Also, that guy was really smart and funny. I hope he gets on! Two “contestant coordinators,” Glenn and Corina, were in charge of the proceedings. They ran a tight ship–started on time, kept things moving–but were also very genuine and enthusiastic. Corina is probably my age, with that ironic Gen X sense of humor: she kept referring to the information on our “chat sheets” as the “quote-unquote interesting facts.” Glenn is an old gameshow hand who told us he had worked on Jeopardy! for 25 years as well as working on and appearing on other shows. Total Angeleno/television guy: tanned, snarky, sporting suede loafers–as I told a friend over breakfast this morning, they don’t carry that model in the south.
Corina came out and told us what to do first. We had to fill out an application form (basic identifying information plus assurances that we had not appeared on other game shows within a certain length of time) and pick up an answer sheet for the test we’d take later. Then we lined up and Glenn took our pictures one by one. He pointed out, “Now you know what a cattle call is like,” and I remembered from things I’ve seen or read that they always take unflattering Polaroids at auditions.
Once we’d all been photographed, we went into the meeting room, which was set up as if for a conference with long tables and a projector screen at the front. We watched a short video and listened to some explanations from the coordinators about answering in the form of a question (it has to be “Who is…” or “What is…”) and about waiting till the question is read to say the answer. Travis put up some sample categories on the screen and we practiced waiting until Corina had read out a question to raise our hands and answer. I answered a “Before and After” that no one else seemed to figure out. Go, me!
We then took a 50-question test that seemed to be the same level of difficulty as the online test. The questions were projected on the screen and read out loud. We could start writing immediately and did not have to wait to hear the full question, nor did we have to answer in the form of a question, but we had only 8 seconds after the question was read to finish answering before the next question started. As is always the case with Jeopardy!, either you know it or you don’t. I got a big boost of confidence when I knew the answer to the first question, but then kicked myself when I missed a couple of others. From chatting to the others afterward, I know I missed a few things they knew but they missed a few things I knew. I think I got between 40 and 45 correct. As with the online test, the coordinators don’t tell you how you did or the minimum score they’re looking for, so I don’t know if that was good enough or not!
After the test they called us up 3 at a time to practice using the buzzer and playing through a few questions. Glenn made a big deal out of making sure we knew how to use the buzzer: lights come on around the board and that’s when you should start pushing your button and keep pushing it. On TV, you can’t see the lights on the board because the camera zooms in on the individual clue once the person chooses it, then cuts right to the contestant who answers. But the buzzers are locked while Alex is reading the question and the unlocking is not automatic–a person pushes a button to activate the buzzers. So if you are a little early, Glenn said, you should keep pushing your buzzer repeatedly. They also told us to “keep the game moving” and show lots of energy by speaking up and choosing another category right away without having to be reminded. The practice game was fun, although I was the first one in my group to pick a category and then I totally biffed the question through inattention to THE CATEGORY I, MYSELF, HAD PICKED. Argh. But I got to buzz in a few other times and got those right. At that point they were mostly making sure we knew how & when to buzz in and that we could “keep the game moving” as instructed.
Once each of the 3 of us had answered 3-4 questions, that part was over and we had to tell the coordinators about ourselves, including what we’d do if we won lots of money on the show. My answer to that question was the same as many others (travel) but I thought my other little anecdotes were pretty good–I told them about working on ECBE (“It’s not as exciting as it sounds”) and about being a competitive dancer (“It’s the most fun you can have while wearing false eyelashes”) and got a couple of laughs from the rest of the group, so that was nice.
We all stayed in the room while all the groups of 3 played and did their little interviews: our job was to clap enthusiastically for whoever was taking their turn at the buzzers. It was fun to hear everyone’s personal stories; I found out I was not the only ballroom dancer in the room (Hi, Heather from Florida!), that 3 members of the group had each lost over 50 lbs. recently (magic bullet: less food, more exercise), and that the first words one particular lawyer ever spoke to a judge in a trial were “Yo, Judge!” à la My Cousin Vinny (nice job, dude). Most of us want to travel or buy vacation homes with our Jeopardy! winnings but one man plans to buy an engagement ring and another will be financing his fiancée’s dream wedding complete with skull-shaped ice sculpture/vodka fountain. Wonder if I can get invited to that one…
At the end, the coordinators explained the next steps. Everyone is at least nominally eligible to become a contestant in the next year and a half, although of course they screen more people than they have room for on the show. If we aren’t called, we can retake the online test and start the process over–in fact, a good third of the people in the room raised their hands when Corina asked who had auditioned before. If we are called, it’ll be with at least a couple of weeks’ notice before our taping date. They tape on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, fitting 5 shows into those two days. Before the taping they do a rehearsal game to make sure we know/remember how to play with the buzzers–Glenn seemed a little buzzer-obsessed so I think this must be a persistent issue although our group seemed pretty good at it. We all got Jeopardy! logo pens to take home along with instructions to practice our buzzer skills. I’m debating whether I want to really practice and prepare, not knowing whether it’ll come to anything, or just relax and let it happen if it happens. Maybe a little of both–I am terrible at geography, U.S. history, and the Bible and it wouldn’t hurt me to work on that stuff regardless of whether I get on the show, right?
So this page will go quiet for now. If I do get called for a taping, I’ll update again and make sure everyone knows about it!
Update 04/23/2011: 1 week out, got hair cut/colored and nails done (Gelish manicure, more as an experiment than specifically for the audition). Also got a reminder email on Monday in case I had forgotten my audition date and time. (I know; I don’t get it either.) Since I am a normal human being and therefore have thought of virtually nothing else for the past month, the email served only to remind me that This Is Really Happening! It says “Get ready to have fun with Questions and Clues as you try-out for America’s favorite Quiz show!” Only a few days left to practice and pick out something to wear…
Update 04/09/2011: Have booked flight, hotel, and rental car for my audition. Currently obsessing over outfit choice and haircut timing.
Prehistory:
Since high school I’ve been an avid, though not consistently devoted, armchair Jeopardy! player. I also played academic bowl (a.k.a. Quiz Bowl) in high school and won the occasional pitcher of beer at NTN bar trivia in college. Plus I am the daughter of a nickel-knowledge lover (Dad periodically likes to make sure I haven’t forgotten whose statue is atop the Missouri state capitol building) and the granddaughter of a crossword enthusiast (Grandma and I used to exchange letters in which we purposely used the biggest, most obscure words we could).
History:
It seems like I am well suited to be a Jeopardy! contestant but I never thought seriously about trying out until after Daniel and I got together. We watched the show together a few times and getting me on Jeopardy! became a minor crusade of his. He badgered me into looking up the qualification procedure online: the process used to be different (I’ve since learned) but these days, you take a preliminary test online. 50 questions, 15 seconds to answer each question. At the end of the test, you don’t receive a score, just a statement that if you did well enough on the test, you can be contacted any time within the next year to come for an audition. I took it for the first time in January 2008. The speed of the test was terrifying and I walked away feeling like I hadn’t done particularly well. I am sure my nerves got the better of me. I never got a call.
Present:
Because Jeopardy! is so popular, they do not even offer the online test every year. For a while after my first attempt, I stopped thinking about it. But then at some point I signed up for their online newsletter, so I got a notification that they were offering the test at the beginning of February this year. Same format as before, but since I was familiar with it, it seemed SO much easier. On one or two questions I had that “argh, I know this, what is it???” feeling, but I also surprised myself pleasantly by pulling out factoids I wasn’t even conscious of knowing (capital of Saskatchewan, anybody?). All the same, at the end, I had no expectations. Without a score, you can’t know for sure how well you did. Even with a score, you don’t know how well everyone else did or how well you’d have to do to qualify for the show. I mentally shelved Jeopardy! and tagged it with a reminder to answer phone calls from unknown numbers for the next 12 months.
On March 24, I was idly checking emails on my phone and saw the subject line “Jeopardy Contestant Auditions in Orlando on April 29.” The pessimistic part of my brain tried to tell the rest that it was just a random spam while my thumb fell over itself to open the message:
“Congratulations! You have been selected for a follow-up appointment at an upcoming Jeopardy! contestant search for the Orlando area, exclusively for those who successfully passed the online test. This is the next step in becoming a Jeopardy! contestant. We have reserved the following appointment for you…”
Holy moley! “Gobsmacked” was an understatement. I did something I normally try not to do: ran down the hall and woke Daniel out of a sound sleep. “Chéri!” I exclaimed. “You won’t believe it!” (He told me later that his first thought was that something was on fire.)
I had to reply to that email confirming my name, city/state, phone number, and audition date and time in order to receive another email with details about the audition and a form I am supposed to fill out and take with me. That email came yesterday (March 30). On the form I have to list “interesting” facts about myself for Alex Trebek to ask me about during the show–that’s where the information on his index cards comes from. You can bet that “BALLROOM DANCER” will figure prominently on my form. Here’s what the email says about the audition process:
“…will consist of a ‘mock version’ of Jeopardy! to assess your game-playing skills, a short personality interview, and being re-tested with a new 50-question test. If you pass all the requirements to become a contestant you will be entered into the contestant pool for one year. However even though you pass the test, we cannot guarantee that you will be invited to do the show. In fact, even though you are invited to the studio, there is no guarantee that you will appear on the show. ”
…So, you know, no pressure. I have heard that they will tell you on the spot whether you are going into the contestant pool. I hope that’s true. Waiting to get that nod on the day will be scary but I’d rather know right away!
Almost time for tonight’s training session, i.e., playing along with the show on TV. Wish me luck and stay tuned!