My Jeopardy! Story: The Audition

The audition was 2.5 hours long. There were 40 of us during this time slot and we were all in a room together at the beginning. There was a mix of men and women, and it seemed like people were in the 30-50 age bracket. A few of the producers came in and while one took attendance the others took polaroids of each of us. We were then divided into two groups and taken to different rooms. The audition portion was about to begin. First they explained a little how the show works. Did you know that contestants cannot signal/ring in to answer until Alex has finished reading the answer and the signal indicator lights turn on? If you ring in too early, the system freezes you out for 1/4 of a second, which is plenty of time for someone else in the Jeopardy! world. In order to get used to not answering too early we had a little practice. On a big screen at the front of the room a question would flash up, the producer would read it, but we could not raise our hands to answer until she had finished reading the question. She would call on someone until the correct answer was said. Next up was another test with similar layout as the online test. I felt really good about it, and some of the questions asked were ones I had seen going through Trivial Pursuit cards in preparation. While the producers graded our quizzes, Jimmy from the Clue Crew talked with us about the show and what to expect if we were one of the chosen few (see the Short Version). His job is to travel the world and write, video, and record clues they use on the show. He also explained what the set looked like and gave us pointers on how to practice for Jeopardy! at home. When they tape the shows they shoot 5 in one day and tape two days a week for 46 weeks of programming. If you do the math that means Alex Trebek works 2 days/week for 23 weeks. Nice!

This picture was taken during the audition by Shane Keyser at The Kansas City Star. To read their article click here. Even if I don't make it to the show, I made it in the paper. Yeah baby!
The producers came back in and now it was time for the mock Jeopardy! and interview portion. Next to the large screen at the front was the judges' table and the equipment which registered our signals and showed the producers the answer. This portion of the audition was video taped. They called us up randomly (to me at least) 3 at a time. The "contestants" would play the game with the producers interjecting, "louder" and "more energy" where they saw fit. When the producers were satisfied, we put the buzzers down and they interviewed us. The interview was based on 5 interesting facts about ourselves we submitted with usual paperwork when we arrived for the audition. When the interviews were over the contestants sat down and another three were called up and on and on until everyone in the room had gone. When I was thinking about the audition I was thinking that the mock game and the interviews would be done in small groups or individually, not in front of an audience. Oh well! I appreciated how they tried to make it as realistic as possible. I did ok on the mock game. I realized I don't know as much as I thought I did (yay humility!), but I do know with confidence what I know. That really helped me out with one of the categories--Rodgers & Hammerstein. Throughout the audition the producers were doing their best to make it fun and to get our energy up by singing, trying to get us to dance, and making a lot of jokes. Entering into that spirit, I correctly answered one of the R&H questions (or is that correctly questioned one of the answers?) with, "What is Oklahoma?" One of the producers, Maggie, said "Correct, but we're not going to sing this time." I said, "What?! I'm ready to sing! You can't set me up for it and then take it away!" She said, "You just took it back. I like that. Sing!"...So I did. Just a little, but I did it with gusto in front of a room full of people. I will make a fool of myself in front of people, but singing in public is a whole other horror story. I think it won me a few points. The interview went ok too. Most of the people in the room were lawyers and doctors, and to be honest, I felt out of place. I realized that I need to brush up on the interesting side of myself. Most of the other people auditioning had auditioned multiple times before, and here was me fresh out of the gate. At the end of each interview, Maggie asked everyone what they would do with the money they won. Do you know the 2 most often answers? To pay off student debt and to travel. It struck as an honest assessment of society. We have grand dreams, but we are restricted by the debts we carry. Carry on. After the mock game and interviews were completed, they thanked us again for our time, and gave us all the little blue bag of headphones you can see in the picture below. The pen was ours to use during the test and also as a practice signaling button in the future. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Memorial of Genocide

Background: In 1975 Pol Pot and the communist party Khmer Rouge came to power. The face they put on for the world was one of an ideal communist society, but the truth behind the mask was one of terror, mistrust, and murder. For four years, Cambodia endured and struggled for survival. Help came in the form of an invasion by the Vietnamese army, and the world was made aware of the millions of deaths that had been ignored, denied, or unheard. It is estimated that approximately 2 million people died directly from the genocide and another million died from the forced famine. The world had seen genocide before but not one committed against a group's own people group. This is thirty years later.... On Tuesday, my second day here, we visited Tuol Sleng or S-21. This was a high school that the Khmer Rouge used as a torture center where people accused of committing crimes against the party would be taken before they were executed. Only 7 out of 17,000-20,000 people survived. The compound is ...
Read more

Week One

We have been in the country a little over a week, returned to normal sleep patterns after jet lag, and already experienced some different ministries. It was a very hard first week. I experienced some culture stress as Cambodia is nothing like I imagined or expected. I will record more of my cultural observations and struggles on this blog in the next few days as I journal about them. I also had a hard week physically. Not with stomach problems as many might suppose, although my stomach is adjusting as well, but with a really bad heat rash that was all over my back, arms, and thighs. It has taken a few days but is now starting to clear up. Two main things I learned from this week are 1.) God is the only Sustainer and 2.) this trip is not going to be anything like my trip to Japan. Week 2 has begun and everything looks brighter. Monday we started teaching summer school at Logos International School. I thought I was going to be teaching art for two weeks, but after a visit to the school l...
Read more

Language of Remembering

Image
In my post "Ebensee" I mentioned that I have been reading for my PhD while travelling to different places in Austria. As I was on the train to Ebensee, I was reading Dirk Lange's Trauma Recalled: Liturgy, Disruption, and Theology . The focus of this book is how. How do you put a traumatic event into words? How do you describe it? How do you recall it? How do you remember it and bring it about in repetition? He writes, "What does it mean to witness or remember an event when the truth of the event cannot be represented?" (69). This reading set me up for what I was about to experience in at the former concentration camp location in Ebensee. Not much remains of the camp. There is the main entrance, the now cemetery which was and is the location of mass graves, and the tunnels in the mountains about a 5 minute walk away. The town has built up and on the camp. As I was walking around I thought back on Lange. How does one remember, continue to remember, when living amo...
Read more