Got the call yesterday. Taping is next month, air date TBD (but looking like late May/early June.

This is a lifelong dream of mine, so naturally now that it has been granted I am paralyzed with fear that I will bring shame down upon my people.

1/10/2018 9:06:58 AM

Congrats man!

[Edited on January 10, 2018 at 9:17 AM. Reason : What would Austin do (WWAD)]

1/10/2018 9:15:18 AM

oh shit congrats

1/10/2018 9:21:13 AM

That's freakin awesome.

1/10/2018 9:38:51 AM

nice!

don't be the guy to go negative before final jeopardy though

1/10/2018 9:41:31 AM

You've got to start thinking of something funny to write if you don't know the Final Jeopardy. And growing your hair and beard out really long.

1/10/2018 9:46:11 AM

Please give a shout out to TWW on air. Maybe that could be one of the things you and Alex chat about.

1/10/2018 9:52:48 AM

Awesome! Congrats.

1/10/2018 10:33:44 AM

“I hear that you’re on an aging, dying messageboard”

1/10/2018 10:41:18 AM

Congrats

You should wear a big hat

1/10/2018 11:02:49 AM

Dont be grumpy. Alex HATES grumps.

1/10/2018 11:31:18 AM

tell him you miss the mustache

1/10/2018 11:39:01 AM

The stories are tough...you have to submit several even before the audition, and it struck me how few things have happened to me in my life which are (a) interesting and (b) suitable for Jeopardy. I refuse to be one of those people who gets up there and says, "One time I was on an airplane" or "I own a dog" or something.

1/10/2018 11:55:19 AM

please don't say "i've always wanted to say this, but let's make it a true daily-double!"

but always make it a true daily-double when possible

1/10/2018 12:00:26 PM

You should say Art Fleming was your uncle.

1/10/2018 12:21:24 PM

omgomgomgomgomg I know that guy

1/10/2018 12:57:51 PM

Congrats... tell us when you have the air date!! My wife and I watch jeopardy all the time!

1/10/2018 1:37:19 PM

do they fact check stories? assuming no, just make up some stories and see what they will believe

1/10/2018 1:59:43 PM

Thats awesome. Do lots of homework, study study study. All types of genres. Look back over past shows.

You'll need to know ALOT about novelist, fiction and Opera.

I;ve always wanted to be on but know my limited knowledge in those areas would keep me from doing well.


Good luck, I'll be rooting for you.

Have you considered what system you'll use as far as what categories and $ amount to select in what order?

1/10/2018 2:32:40 PM

Africa trip seems like the no-brainer story

1/10/2018 2:32:43 PM

Quote :

"You'll need to know ALOT about novelist, fiction and Opera."

I am studying and going through J-archive for old clues, and I'll round out my knowledge on common subjects. But I'm not going to bother with opera. That's a topic where I'm starting from zero.

Quote :

"Have you considered what system you'll use as far as what categories and $ amount to select in what order?"

Some. It's hard to know how much mental bandwidth I'll have leftover for strategy after the stress, the questions themselves, and the buzzer management. In general my thought has always been - go with any subject you know well first, to build up cash in the hope of a Daily Double (or to deny that cash to anybody else who gets the DD).

Having exhausted strengths - or, upon being presented with a board where I have no strong categories - I would hope to go DD hunting, if only in an attempt to deny them to other players.

In practice? I expect I'll be so overawed by everything that I'll just go with the next dollar value in whatever category I got right (always assuming, knock on wood, that I get anything right).

1/10/2018 3:11:45 PM

OOHH SHIITT!!! SHOUT OUT to TWW plz.

1/10/2018 3:13:18 PM

Oh, please wear this Grump...







[Edited on January 10, 2018 at 3:36 PM. Reason : x]

1/10/2018 3:34:28 PM

You must find a way to shout out to two, otherwise you lose.

1/10/2018 4:26:57 PM

Buzzer management is key I’ve read

Supposedly if you buzz too early you get blocked out or something weird like that

1/10/2018 4:30:42 PM

My co-TA from when I used to teach a lab at NCSU was on Jeopardy a few months ago. I haven't talked to him in a while aside from the occasional stuff on Facebook but I could try and get you in touch with him if you wanna ask him for pointers or something.

Quote :

"You've got to start thinking of something funny to write if you don't know the Final Jeopardy."

THIS! He didn't know the answer to the Final Jeopardy clue so he just wrote down "The Ballad of Captain Crunch".

1/10/2018 4:37:22 PM

Is there a minimum payout these days? What's the application process?

Pls let us know if Alex is as weird as he seems

1/10/2018 4:40:52 PM

dude if you didn't know the answer and pulled off



Would be legendary

1/10/2018 4:47:18 PM

[Edited on January 10, 2018 at 5:41 PM. Reason : .]

1/10/2018 5:39:18 PM

Quote :

"“I hear that you’re on an aging, dying messageboard”"

This made me lawl. Would be so epic.

This dude I know who was on Jeopardy said the best thing to practice on for the buzzer is one of those clicky ink pens.

1/10/2018 5:50:22 PM

Quote :

"Pls let us know if Alex is as weird as he seems"

I'd describe him as more dickish than weird at times, but definitely like him.


^^^ yeah have some crazy shit planned out for final Jeopardy if u don't know the answer

1/10/2018 7:08:27 PM

Screw trying to win, just spend all your time coming up with an epic incorrect answer for Final Jeopardy

1/10/2018 7:27:15 PM

Start talking in only questions now so you don't fuck that part up.

Don't forget to praise Kek.

[Edited on January 10, 2018 at 7:41 PM. Reason : x]

1/10/2018 7:39:52 PM

Come up with some more creative ways to phrase the answer in a question than "what is". That's always bugged me about Jeopardy.

1/10/2018 9:50:51 PM

"who dat"

1/10/2018 10:01:17 PM

Hopefully there will be a The Penis mightier than a sword category.

1/10/2018 10:23:52 PM

Quote :

"Supposedly if you buzz too early you get blocked out or something weird like that"

If you're too early it delays you for a fraction of a second - enough that if somebody else is trying to buzz in they'll get there first, but if they're wrong or you're the only one who knows you're still good.

Quote :

"I haven't talked to him in a while aside from the occasional stuff on Facebook but I could try and get you in touch with him if you wanna ask him for pointers or something."

I'm not clear on where this would fall in the rules I was given, but it's close enough to the "gray area" that I'd rather not risk it. There are plenty of people who have posted about their experiences online, anyway.

Quote :

"Is there a minimum payout these days? What's the application process?"

3rd place gets $1000, 2nd places gets $2000, 1st gets whatever they win. They probably have a minimum payout, too, just to ensure there's never a situation where 1st actually gets less than 2nd in a really low-scoring game.

The process so far has been:

1) Online test of 50 or so questions. They administer it every so often. You sign up for a time to take it, each question is up for a few seconds, and you type a response. The whole thing is done quite quickly. I think something like 300,000 people sign up for it each time, but only about 100,000 actually bother to take it.

2) If you get enough right on the online test (I don't think there's a fixed "enough right" figure), they invite you to tryouts. I'm not sure how many tryouts there are; both times I've been invited to them for regular Jeopardy!, they were in DC, but I assume they have others in different parts of the country. I didn't go to the first time because I was leaving for Africa.

This time, there were maybe 20 people in the room, but I gathered that they were doing several rounds of tryouts that week. Everyone seemed to have A or B last names, so I assumed it was alphabetical. But figure there was probably a hundred who went to that round of tryouts, times however many they do around the country. Point is, a fair number of people get this far.

At the tryouts, some contestant coordinators talk to you about the process, answer questions, share some stories, and above all try to get you amped up. They're very big on everyone being "high energy" and they must mainline coffee themselves, because they were bouncing off the walls.

Then there's another test; this time, the questions appear on a projector similar to how they would on the show; they're read out, and you write down an answer. Then they take these away and grade them, though to what end I was never sure; even though we waited for them to be graded, nobody was told how they did and nobody was asked to leave. I assume this was just to weed out anybody who cheated somehow on the online test.

After that, they have a fairly elaborate setup to mimic being on the show. The projector shows a truncated game board (each category only has 3 questions, which are immediately replaced when exhausted). You get an authentic signalling device. They set up a camera to film the contestants, who they call up three at a time for a few minutes, during which you play at doing the show.

After that, they ask you some Alex-style questions based on information you provided earlier, and film your responses. Based on what common sense and the internet tell me, these filmed portions play a big role in deciding who gets on - who speaks up, who shows enthusiasm and energy, who can figure out the buzzer, who remembers to answer in the form of a question, stuff like that. But honestly, it's a big mystery. It may be random.

Then your name goes into a pool for 18 months, during which you might get a call - though you probably won't. A lot of people go through the process many times. During that time, you can't apply again. If you don't hear from Jeopardy after 18 months, you're welcome to start over again.

In my case, I don't remember when I took the online test; I believe it was a year ago. My tryout was in April 2017.

Previously I went out for the College Tournament when it came to NCSU. That process was different, but I made it to the final round - the last 18 people, as I recall. They ended up selecting someone else, obviously.

Quote :

"This dude I know who was on Jeopardy said the best thing to practice on for the buzzer is one of those clicky ink pens."

At the tryout they give you a Jeopardy! pen which is the right size and clickiness to simulate the buzzer, so you can practice. It only does so much good, though, since the real key is timing it with Alex's voice and the go-ahead light.

1/10/2018 10:38:02 PM

My cousin's husband was on Jeopardy. Won 4 straight. Won $76000

http://j-archive.com/showplayer.php?player_id=2681

1/10/2018 11:43:33 PM

Quote :

"You'll need to know ALOT about novelist, fiction and Opera."

A LOT

A LOT
A LOT
A LOT

A LOT
A LOT
A LOT

A LOT

http://www.dictionary.com/browse/alot

1/10/2018 11:51:27 PM

Great post Opie!

Thank you for contributing to the conversation!

1/11/2018 12:05:46 AM

remember...it's gangsta, not gangster

1/11/2018 2:29:43 PM

when you did the online practice tests about how many were you getting right? I assume they didn't give you the answers on the real online test but if you had to ballpark your score where would you put it?

I've heard other contestants say (via reddit AMAs, etc.) they knew the majority of the question on the show but it was a matter of buzzing in first

1/11/2018 5:25:22 PM

That's awesome! You're gonna do great.

1/11/2018 8:16:43 PM

be the first contestant to answer every single question correctly

[Edited on January 11, 2018 at 8:46 PM. Reason : nbd]

1/11/2018 8:46:24 PM

be the first contestant to answer every single question incorrectly

1/11/2018 8:50:55 PM

Quote :

"when you did the online practice tests about how many were you getting right?"

40-45 out of 50. There were only a couple that I had straight up no idea on, and a few where I had a reasonably good guess, but I feel like I straight up knew about 4/5. This doesn't necessarily translate into knowing 4/5 of the questions on the show, though, because the show has categories - if I'm weak in any one of those, that's already 1/5 questions I don't know.

If I'm weak in two - which is hardly unlikely; one of the old games I went through recently to practice had "tennis stars" and "opera" in the same round - then I'd be lucky to know the correct response to half the clues on the board.

That said...

Quote :

"I've heard other contestants say (via reddit AMAs, etc.) they knew the majority of the question on the show but it was a matter of buzzing in first"

This jibes with what I've heard and experienced. It also makes sense, if you think about it; a player with perfect buzzer control (who always gets in first when they ring in) who only knows the answers to half the questions would crush two all-knowing players with imperfect buzzer control.

As I said in reply to Shawna, though, buzzer skills are impossible to practice until you get to the studio. I gather that much of the morning is taken up with letting everybody practice and get familiar with the equipment.

1/12/2018 7:25:24 AM

Any idea how many shows they tape a day? Like if you win, what're the odds that they send to you the green room for an hour, and line you up again for another episode?

1/12/2018 10:14:11 AM

I heard they tape a week's worth each day.

1/12/2018 10:20:59 AM

I guess you bring multiple sets of clothes in hoping you win?

1/12/2018 10:46:31 AM

Congrats, dude! Good luck!

1/12/2018 10:53:32 AM