Sunday, April 27, 2008
In Da Jeopardy pool
I have nearly completed the academic competition hajj.1 Today I got entered into the contestant pool for Jeopardy. Ken Jennings willing, I'll get selected for a taping sometime later this year, which I won't be able to tell anyone anything interesting about until 3 months after the taping (when it airs).
So if I get on, Polyscifi will be 2 for 4. Matt, Jeremy - come on slackers, you're holding down the blog average. ;)
A little background - Jeopardy held an open audition in Charlottesville as part of its "Brain Bus" tour yesterday from 5-7. Preethi heard about it on the radio on the way home from a doggy agility competition; told me at 3; we booked it up to Charlottesville. I passed the 10 question intro test yesterday, and then passed the 50 question test today and took part in the mock game (I think I won my group which is pretty good as I was matched up against a $500k winner from Millionaire and a Jeopardy contestant from before Trebek).
Random comments:
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So if I get on, Polyscifi will be 2 for 4. Matt, Jeremy - come on slackers, you're holding down the blog average. ;)
A little background - Jeopardy held an open audition in Charlottesville as part of its "Brain Bus" tour yesterday from 5-7. Preethi heard about it on the radio on the way home from a doggy agility competition; told me at 3; we booked it up to Charlottesville. I passed the 10 question intro test yesterday, and then passed the 50 question test today and took part in the mock game (I think I won my group which is pretty good as I was matched up against a $500k winner from Millionaire and a Jeopardy contestant from before Trebek).
Random comments:
- Can't say anything about the question content, so don't ask.
- This was my first time to try out.
- Contra what I've heard from others, I got the impression that getting all 50 right wouldn't hurt you (I think I missed 2).
- I think the mock game peformance (particularly stage presence) was probably the most important aspect. I think I did well at that (I have lots of amusing stories, some of which actually don't involve alcohol).
- Several folks showed up today in t-shirts and jeans when the instructions asked you to dress as you would for a taping. (typical Jeopardy attire is quasi-business formal) I mean, you're asking these guys to put you on TV for a chance to win 10's of thousands of dollars, the least you can do is put on the monkey suit for a couple hours.
- A guy there (not a Jeopardy official) said there's typically about 1,000 in the pool and 400 play during the year. 400 sounds about right to me (that's about 40 weeks worth), so I think it's representative of my odds of appearing.
Footnote:
1. Do you think Alex would appreciate it if I circled him seven times, threw some rocks at Johnny Gilbert, all the while praising Ken Jennings? I'm not shaving my head afterwards though. I'll be bald soon enough and there's no need to hurry it along.
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