Jeopardy Audition

Note: this post was originally published on 3/13/2008 to a different site.  Update appears below.

I auditioned for the prime time game show Jeopardy! today.  I had auditioned back in October 2005 when they didn’t have the online exam.  I went to the Radisson Hotel L.A. Westside and took the in-person exam.  They announced those who passed and I wasn’t one of them.  I did get to meet one of the Clue Crew, Jon, and I got some Jeopardy pens.  This time I passed the online exam and I knew a bit of what to expect because my wife had auditioned last year.

Like many functions in Southern California, just getting there was an adventure.  We left at 7:10 am believing we had plenty of time to arrive at the same Radisson Hotel in West L.A. near Culver City by 9 am.  We took the 10 all the way.  The traffic didn’t seem any slower than usual in the San Gabriel Valley.  It sped up after the 605 and through Downtown L.A. but got very slow in West L.A.  The streets we took after exiting the freeway were also slow and we barely got there at 9:01 am.  My wife dropped me off at the front door and left to find parking.

I entered the hotel and went toward the meeting room where I had auditioned the last time but there was no one around there.  I asked at the front desk and they told me to go upstairs.  I went and there still didn’t seem to be much going on.  I walked down some halls for a few minutes and finally found a table where someone sat giving out pens and applications.  He gave me a Jeopardy!  pen and application and another Sony employee named Robert took a Polaroid photo of me.

I entered the room behind the table and it was already filled with about 16 contestant hopefuls seated at small meeting tables and facing a screen on the far wall.  I sat at a table in the back.  Another Sony employee, a woman named Bobbie, was asking people where they were from.  A couple came from Colorado and one guy was from Albuquerque that Bobbie had trouble pronouncing.  She said something like “Albuquirky”.  A couple of other contestant hopefuls arrived after me and sat in the back.  Bobbie asked whether anyone had taken the test in their pajamas or less.  No one answered but she said she saw some people blush.  She explained that around 90,000 people signed up for the online test and about 60,000 actually took it and submitted their test.  She didn’t say how many passed it but did say that they had to fill 400 spots for the season.  She also mentioned that contestants would be notified three weeks before their taping and said something about how they try to have people from outside Southern California on for the Monday shows and use locals as alternates that they eventually let on later shows.  She said contestants can be called within 18 months of their audition and that we cannot do another game show during that time.  They tape five shows in one day and give everyone snacks and lunch.  Not everyone gets called and some famous contestants had tried out several times before getting on.  She also talked about how Brad Rutter has won the most money from Jeopardy and Ken Jennings’ technique was to buzz in for questions he didn’t know the answer to yet and figure it out within the five seconds. 

We did a warm-up game where they projected Jeopardy categories up on the screen and we answered by raising our hands.  I didn’t do very well at this.   Some of the questions were hard.  They did call on me to answer one even though others had their hands up before me.  It was just a warm up and I think they wanted to give everyone the chance to answer.  In the actual game contestants only compete against 2 others and not 18 others.

They played a video on the screen that showed the Clue Crew and Alex Trebek giving tips for contestants such as waiting until Alex finishes answering the question before buzzing in.  The Sony employees then passed out answer sheets for us to take another test.  They displayed 50 questions for eight seconds each that showed the category and the question.  A recorded voice read the question and it wasn’t Alex Trebek’s voice or Johnny Gilbert’s.  I thought this test was easier than the one I had taken on October 2005 and the ones I’ve taken online.  I skipped a couple questions and guessed on three others but I think I knew most of them.  I am bound by agreement not to talk about any of the content of the test.

They collected the answer sheets and Bobbie talked to us some more.  While she talked a couple of the other contestant hopefuls and I filled out our applications.  The application asked if I had been on any other game shows and when (I had not), whether I knew anyone who worked for Sony Entertainment (no), whether I knew anyone who had appeared on Jeopardy! (yes, someone we knew from the puzzle parties was on last year and was a two-time champion).  As far as I could see it didn’t ask for dates we wouldn’t be available for taping.  They collected our applications, Polaroid photos, and the sheets where we wrote down interesting things about ourselves to discuss with Alex on the actual show.  My wife and I call these the “chit-chat” sheets, a name she learned when she auditioned.

Bobbie talked about how they want contestants to speak loudly and look like they’re having fun not like they’re all stressed out.  She said we would try to keep the game moving along quickly because the TV audience wants to see all the clues on the board played.  It’s also in our bests interests to play all the clues because more clues mean more money to wager in Final Jeopardy.  She then explained that we were going to be called up to the front to play a mock game and then be interviewed.  She and the others would give us tips if they felt we were buzzing in too quickly or not speaking loudly enough.  She brought out some buzzers that were replicas of the ones used on the show.  We did some more warm-ups and this time practiced the “buzzer” positioning with our hands.

She called up the contestant hopefuls in groups of three to play the mock game and then she and the other employees interviewed them.  Most did very well on the game.  A few had some mistakes possibly due to nerves.  When no one attempted to guess on one Bobbie would give them hints until one of them got it.  She explained that Alex didn’t give hints.  She would tell some to speak up when they were too quiet and would complement others on their energy or strong voice.

From their interviews the other contestant hopefuls seemed interesting and like tough competitors.  Most of us were Caucasian males.  Of the 19 of us, there were 5 women, all of them Caucasian.  Of the men, there was one Asian and one African American.  Most seemed around my age or older but some were clearly younger from their interviews.  Many of them had appeared on other game shows.  One had beat both Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter on this show called 1 vs. 100 and won $250,000.  Another had answered the $125,000 incorrectly on 1 vs. 100 and won nothing.  Another had appeared on The Newlywed Game 39 years ago and won some pots and pans and a cutlery set.  Another had been “foed” on Friend or Foe.

Several contestants were students, one undergrad, another recent graduate, and several graduate students.  There were some writers, a professional blogger, a personal historian, a couple of lawyers, a retired army vet, a stay-at-home mom, and one other statistician.  A few worked in the entertainment industry and a couple did some acting, though not much more than bit parts or community theater.  Most mentioned traveling as a personal interest.  Some talked about how they met their spouses.  When asked what they would do with the money they mentioned traveling, paying off debts, buying a car or a house, and building a school in Africa (that costs only $4,000).

I was the last contestant hopeful called up to play the mock game and be interviewed.  Everyone had already played and been interviewed.  I play with two others who had already played.  I thought I did fairly well at the mock game.  It seemed like I answered more than the other two and only got one wrong.  I spoke loudly and excitedly.  They never had to give us hints to get us to answer a question and never said I need to speak up or us my buzzer differently.  They then interviewed me first asking “what’s going on?”  I said this was my second time trying out for Jeopardy and it was so much more fun than my first time.  They ask about my job as a statistician for Medicare, what I did for fun, and how long I had been married.  I told them I liked to read and they asked what good books I’ve read.  I told them about Miracle in the Andes by Nando Parrado and we had a humorous conversation about cannibalism.  They ask what I’d do with the money and I said some would go toward paying my wife’s speeding ticket and the high insurance premiums from it.  I also mentioned saving it and taking a trip to Sweden.  The game and interview seemed to go quickly and I was a bit nervous but one of the other hopefuls said I did a good job.

They asked if we had any other questions and then let us go.  We won’t really know how we did on the test, mock game, or interview, unless we make it to the next stage.  I’m not sure what that is but I’ve heard something about getting called to the study.  As we exited the room around 11:30 am we saw some other contestant hopefuls filling out applications for the next auditions.  I got two more Jeopardy pens from the employee at the table.  I met my wife in the lobby and we had lunch at the hotel.  In all I think I did OK at the audition and that there’s a chance I’ll make it to the next stage.

Update: as of 5/1/2009 I still have not been called to come to the studio.  My sister-in-law also took the online test.  She auditioned in August and was on the show taped in October that aired on 12/24/2008.  See www.marmijeopardy.com for more info on that.  I'm still waiting to get called.  I believe I have until September 13, 2009.  After that I can try the online test again.