I feel really honored that Ken asked me to write a guest blog about my experience as a contestant on Jeopardy! When I think of the incredible list of guest bloggers Ken has had over the years, I really feel like I don’t belong. Which, some could say, also applied to my appearance on Jeopardy! Although at least the $1 I finished with on the show is more than what Ken is paying me to do this.
Being on Jeopardy! is an intense experience. The show itself goes by in a blur, but the shooting day is a long one. They do five episodes in a day, the Monday through Friday show all in just a few hours. They do this two days a week during only two weeks each month. Usually the episodes shoot about two months before they air. So when Alex is wishing you a Merry Christmas, it isn’t even Halloween yet (not that that’s stopped Costco from putting out their holiday decorations for sale). The day begins when a shuttle bus arrives at the hotel to pick you up at 7 AM. By the way, contestants pay for the hotel. The only one who gets expenses paid is the defending champion. The producers call this the Ken Jennings rule. You don’t get your prize money until 120 days after the show and he was going broke flying himself from Utah to Los Angeles every few weeks during his unprecedented run. That’s why Sony started ponying up for the champ’s travel expenses.
Once you arrive at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, you’re ushered into the green room. All 16-17 contestants (15 who will appear on the show that day and one or two alternates in case someone gets sick or doesn’t show) sit at tables or on sofas to fill out paperwork. One of the contestant coordinators goes to each person to make sure they know how your name is pronounced. She also goes over your interview with Alex. The coordinators put three stories on a card and Alex chooses which to ask about.
Legendary Jeopardy! producer Maggie Speak then does orientation, which lasts an hour. She walks you through the process, explains how everything works, and answers whatever questions you might have. She also spills some great behind the scenes stories- it’s a pretty amazing performance, which I got to hear twice because I had previously been an alternate. Each contestant also goes through makeup. During this whole time, some contestants are mingling a bit, others are silent. Everyone is probably checking out the competition, although they were all nice- seemingly no gamesmanship.
At this point everyone is paraded out to the set. We’ve all seen it a million times on television, but there’s still something magical about seeing it in person. What struck me was how big the board looks when it’s in front of you, which it needs to be because the clues have to be big enough to read. Before we get a chance to play, pictures need to be taken and each player does a little video called the “hometown howdy”, which will be sent to you to post on social media. Everyone then gathers around the podiums while the floor manager explains the set-up. That includes how to write your name, how to put in your bid and answer for Final Jeopardy (there’s a piece of paper and a marker just in case the screen fails during the show), and the elevator. What? Yes, each podium has a little elevator behind it that can lift up shorter people so that everyone looks the same height. But the most important part of the set-up you’re shown is the buzzer. They actually never refer to it as the buzzer because, duh, it doesn’t buzz. They call it the signaling device. I still call it the buzzer. It’s a little thicker than I had imagined, about the length of a pen. As soon as Alex reads the question, a production assistant flips a switch. A light which runs around the entire game board flicks on, although the camera shot is framed in a way so that you can’t see it at home. Once the light appears, you can buzz in. However, if you hit it too early, you get locked out for a quarter of a second. It doesn’t seem like much, but everyone is so smart, that will almost always allow one of the other players to get in. Of course, wait too long, and they’ll beat you anyway. So the key is timing, trying to figure out that sweet spot between when Alex stops talking and when you see the light go on. The producers tell you to keep buzzing until someone is called on. After all, maybe all three buzzed too early and got locked out, so you want to be the first one in after the quarter-second is up.
Once all the explanations are over, there’s a rehearsal. We’re called up to the stage three at a time to play just like they do on the show. Jimmy McGuire from the Clue Crew hosts. Once the producers think you’ve gotten a feel for the buzzer, they pull you out and put another player in. By the end of the rehearsal, the studio audience is arriving. We’re all rushed back to the green room with the strict admonishment that we’re not to have any contact, verbal or visual, with our guests in the crowd. This is near impossible, so no one yelled at me for smiling at my wife. Once back in the green room, the producers reveal who will play in the first game against the returning champion. No one, aside from the champ, knows when they’re going to play until it’s announced before each game. Another interesting note- the producers don’t pick. There is a third-party law firm hired to keep everything on the up and up. This all stems from the quiz show scandals of the 1950’s. I guess this prevents any of us from becoming the next Charles Van Doren, although I’ll admit I’m more likely to be compared to Herb Stempel. The lawyer chooses which set of categories and questions go with which show and which contestants will play each game. Security is so tight; contestants are not allowed to leave sight of the coordinators. You need to be escorted to the restroom and you’re kept far away from anyone else involved in the game. This means the only moments you spend with Alex Trebek are the ones on stage during the show.
To be continued tomorrow.
31 comments :
Interesting insight into the inner workings of this show ... but ... contestants pay for the hotel? Really? Tacky. Very tacky, Like the show hasn't made a gazillion dollars over the hundred years it's been on and producers can't fork out a few shekels for hotel rooms they would get for a deal ...
Amusing and more interesting than I expected. Thanks!
Oh man, that elevator part is worth its weight in gold. All along some of the contestants were elves and no one knew. ("Dwarfs" sounded too offensive.)
And I agree with Arlen. They can't afford to put them up in a Motel 6?
i agree. Should have hotel paid for. What is paying for your own hotel? Tacky for 200 please.
This is really fascinating.
Good stuff!
Here's a Jeopardy Answer:
This quiz show does not pick expenses for challengers
Interesting. Can't wait for part two. The contestants are guaranteed prize money of at least $1,000, so its not like they're going home in debt unless they got crazy with the room service.
A lawyer who chooses the contestants and categories for the game- that sounds like a job I could handle. Of course, I used to think that about the CPA who handed the Oscar envelopes to the presenters.
This is really interesting. I qualified for tryouts a few years ago, but I didn't go because it was held in a different city (there's that no paying hotel expenses again) and because the tryout process seemed pretty daunting. Plus I figure even if I did well on the show, I'd blow it in Final Jeopardy.
Sue in Seattle
I tried out years ago. Everyone gathers at a hotel in Culver City and fills out biographical sheets and, I believe, some legal stuff. The crux of the process was a seating with about 30 folks in a given group. We each had an assigned number. Staffers are around the room observing/noting. A person calls out a category (Like Pray Tell!) and then offers the answer. We were to raise our hands when we believed we knew the question. Staff decided who was first, and so forth, until the correct question is given. If you were deemed a possible, your number was called and you were asked to stay on for a bit. The categories were a personal nightmare and I was not asked to stay.
Question on the post: If one is an alternate for a taping and does not get chosen, are her/his expenses covered for a return to the next taping? Do they receive priority the next time? Or, heaven forfend, are they doomed to never return?!
Ooh, I read "Prisoner of Trebekistan" but this article has information I didn't know! (Or, to be fair, had forgotten.) Looking forward to part 2!
Thanks for this fascinating post!
In addition to being knowledgeable about a wide variety of topics and good with the buzzer, winning at Jeopardy requires being comfortable in front of the cameras. I auditioned once, and did well enough on the written tests to participate in a mock game -- at which point I got so nervous that I forgot half of what I knew. I would recommend that anyone who isn't great at public speaking prepare by taking an improv class or joining a group like Toastmasters, which will help you think on your feet while dealing with the stress of an audience.
Been a fan forever and always curious about behind the scenes. Fascinating stuff.
Technically, if it's the Christmas show, Halloween has passed. I taped on Halloween and the shows from that tape date aired a couple of weeks before Christmas. Otherwise, spot on regarding what it's like.
The hotel part is not surprising to me; that would explain why they always stress "If you're going to be in the Los Angeles area..." when running the ads promoting becoming a future contestant. They want to discourage people from going all the way out to LA just to try out.
I tried out for the college championship back in 2008; I can't remember the name of the woman who ran the tryout, but she had enough energy to power a large suburb. I wonder if it is the same woman mentioned here.
This article was really cool. Thank you for sharing some of the behind-the-scenes info.
The one difference from when I was on in 1998 is the shuttle bus. We had to drive ourselves, park, etc.
As a fan since the beginning of Jeopardy (with Art Fleming!), thank you for sharing some of the behind-the-scenes info! This was a cool article and I look forward to the concluding article.
Big changes from when I was the contestant coordinator for the first year of Jeopardy in 1984. I was able to decide which contestants were going to participate in the games and if a contestant was too short. we had them stand on various sized wooden racks. And on tape days I hosted the on-camera rehearsal games that gave the contestants an opportunity to play the he game under actual show conditions. You can view a 15-minute video Clio if you google Jeopardy Mark Richards
Love this.
I was a contestant in the pre-social media days, but other than the video filming, this brings back a lot of memories. Also, since I'm a local, I didn't have to deal with hotel accommodations, and I just drove myself there. I don't know if they require a hotel stay these days even for Angelenos. Also, back in the day, they didn't have those fancy new-fangled podium elevators. The shorter contestants just stood on boxes.
Jeff really captured the experience wonderfully. The board does indeed surprise you with its enormity. I remember the pre-game jitters, but I was surprisingly calm once I got to the game, and was actually more nervous about the interview than the play. The buzzer / signaling device is really the key to it all. No matter what you know, if you don't get into a rhythm with that thing, you're toast. Basically, you read the question in your mind quickly, formulate an answer before Alex finishes reading, then just focus on that light. That the contestants don't actually listen to Alex was illustrated by a screwup that happened during one of our games. The numbers of a date got transposed on the screen, even though Alex read the date correctly, two of us got our answers wrong because we based them on the date we were reading (they corrected our scores during the break).
The one tip I would give any contestant is not to get caught up in actually being on set with all the lights and cameras and Alex, thinking that "Wow I'm on Jeopardy." I sort of did that for a minute or two during one game, and before I knew it, a whole category had passed me by. Just treat it as an exercise in reflex and trivia, and appreciate it after it's over.
My experience was pretty cool, since I won the last game of a ten-game cycle, just before the Thanksgiving break. So I got to come into the studio two weeks later as the defending champion, and resident VIP. It did wonders for my ego. I ended up winning one more game, and the whole thing was one of the great highlights of my life. Definitely go for it if you ever get the chance.
A bit more information about how the tryout process works these days (or at least as of a few years ago, my last in-person one. Although I'll probably be doing another one later this week; special circumstances vis a vis an event I'm attending). For what it's worth, I've been trying out since the week before Alex's first show aired, and may very well have more passes than anyone who's also not made it on the show. A while back, via Mark Evanier, I was Weird Al's handler at a tribute to Stan Freberg. Mark introduced me to Al (who struck me as a really nice guy) with "Tom, this is Al. He wrote a song about losing on Jeopardy!. Al, this is Tom, he can't manage to get on Jeopardy! in order to lose on it." [Yes, that will be one of my listed "Things Alex can ask me about"]
In the old days, you showed up either at an out of LA event or at the LA-based J! studio (it's moved a few times. I believe it was first at the KTLA lot, now at Sony in Culver City). You'd take a 50 category, one question per category, test on video, getting 15 seconds to write down your answer. Didn't have to be in the form of a question. They'd take the answer sheets backstage to grade, while either we watched video of past J! games or a staffer answered questions.
The person in charge would come back and read off the names of the passers. Every time in that period when they gave a passing score, it'd be 35. They never told anyone what their individual score was, but eventually Alex's taped intro to the test included a bit where he said you could tell everyone that Alex said you'd missed it by just one. The passers stayed, everyone else went home.
Nowadays, usually you take the online test. It's usually around the start of the year, and is offered three nights in a row. Different test each night, you can only take one. It's pretty much the same as in the in-person days; 50 categories and clues, 15 seconds to type your answer, not in question form.
To the best of my knowledge, they've never said what a passing score is since going to online. It may still be 35. It may be the top 1000 scorers each night. It may be the top 5% every night. The only way you know you've passed is if they contact you in the next year to invite you to an in-person tryout. [Cont. on next rock]
[Cont. from last rock] Again, this info is several years old, but I've not heard of any major changes. At the in-person tryout, they start by giving you another 50 clue test. Presumably this is to make sure you didn't cheat on the online; i.e. if you score a 20 on this one, I doubt you're getting on.
They then call people up in groups of three to mock play; you see a screen with a few categories and squares, with the categories changing as people exhaust their questions. You have buzzers. What they say they're looking for is reasonable enthusiasm (i.e. not Wheel of Fortune level, but look like you're glad to be there), vocal volume in responses, lack of severe nervousness, and good game play; waiting until the end of the clue to buzz, answering in the form of a question, after answering a clue, not going "" "You need to select a clue" "Oh! I'll take Toys, no, Presidents, no, make it Toys for 200, no, 600, oh, make it 1000". Etc.
Then they do a minute or so interview. You introduce yourself, where you're from, what you do, maybe an initial bit about yourself. They then work from the five things you wrote down that Alex could ask you about to talk to you and see if you can carry a conversation. The final question is always "What would you do if you won a lot of money on the show?"
They take a headshot of everyone, and they say that you're in the pool for 12 or 18 months (I've heard both), don't call them unless your contact info changes. If you hear from them, great, otherwise, after the specified period expires, you're out of the pool and can take the online test again to try to get back in.
I've heard, but don't know how accurate it is, that 70-100,000 people take the online each time. 4,000ish passers are selected somehow (random? semi-random? based on geography, profession, etc.?) for the in-person tryouts, and then there are 400 contestant slots each year (10 a week, minus tournaments and summer rerun weeks).
Definitely want to know more, and I think I'll make it unanimous by griping about the hotel.
Ken, now you just need a friend to find their way to WHEEL OF FORTUNE. ;)
We totally agree about the money the show makes vs what 2nd and 3rd place contestants win. Its a joke. We think you have a better chance to win big on Wheel of Fortune. :-)
To answer a couple of questions above, I've been told that you are not required to stay at the recommended hotel in Culver City, but they strongly encourage it because it allows them to keep better track of you. The famous Arthur Chu decided to save a buck and stay with relatives in Los Angeles instead of springing for the room, but he misjudged traffic on the 405 and arrived at the studio late. This did not endear him to the contestant coordinators, but obviously he still made it in time to be on the show and make a pile of money.
Only LA-based contestants are asked to be alternates so they won't incur major travel expenses only to be passed over. An alternate who isn't chosen on their first invitation will be invited again later and guaranteed a slot the second time.
For what it's worth, I don't believe the show is absolutely bound by the random draw for contestant placement. They may shuffle some people around to avoid, for instance, having 3 librarians or 3 contestants named Chuck on the same show. But they try to keep it as random as possible so if a sports category comes up when a sportswriter is playing, no one can say the show deliberately favored that person. (The categories are also slotted into each show semi-randomly.)
I haven't been a contestant (yet...), but I have been in the audience. I think it's one of the better TV tapings to see in person. Free parking, everyone's friendly, it doesn't take your whole day (especially if you're there for the afternoon session, when they only tape 2 shows), you're not constantly being prompted to clap and scream, and Alex is a lot of fun.
The part about dealing with shorter contestants reminds me of the 1988 presidential debates parody on SNL, doing pretty much exactly that to Jon Lovitz's Dukakis.
Given different shows and different eras, I now wonder how the process of picking contestants went with my favorite game show, Match Game ('70s version). I know that they taped a week in a day, taking a break that allowed the panelists to have drinks, making for an even looser show those "days", but not about the contestant choosing itself. I can assume someone they could have some fun with might've mattered on that kind of comedy-based game.
Thanks both Jeff and Ken for this behind-the-scenes insight. I too am a Jeopardy fan since the 60s. Everyone has always encouraged me to try out, but the categories are too broad and too many to be guaranteed success. And the flight from Florida to California too expensive just to go and lose. And now it turns out you have to pay for the room too. Again thanks.
By the way regardless of what this thing below says I am a robot.
I've had 1 experience on a game show and at least 2 in-person tryouts (that didn't lead to appearances).
My game show experience was on the 2nd (and final) TV Land Ultimate Fan Search Final, taped in June 2000. To qualify, since the DFW area wasn't having tryouts, I traveled to OKC on the 1st day of a vacation that eventually took me to Milwaukee. The tryouts were in a shopping mall where Randolph Mantooth, formerly of Emergency, was a special guest for the locals to hear & meet. 8 people were chosen to play in a tournament format, and I was fortunate enough to come out on top that day. I was told that the games would be played in NYC, all expenses paid for me & a guest. (I took my dad.) On my way back from Milwaukee (in the days before cell phones) I was told that I had to be in NYC the next Saturday. I had the same experience as your friend, waiting in the Green Room, having to be accompanied to the bathroom, etc. Unfortunately I came out 3rd of 3 in my game. I won a big tv set (before flat-screen tvs) and decided to donate it to the local Boys' Club so I wouldn't have to pay taxes on the $1049 value assigned to it. I did have to pay taxes on the travel expenses, but fortunately travel expenses in cash were included.
Almost a year later, in May 2001, I tried out for Jeopardy! at a hotel in Downtown Dallas. We had to come up w/ our 5 potential stories on paper before taking the test. I remember 1 question I missed was about the woman who wrote the "A Is for Alibi", etc, mystery series, and I didn't know at the time who it was, but I've known ever since. Since I wasn't asked to stay after the test, I figure I flunked it. We'd been told not to arrive late, so I was a bit miffed that 1 guy who arrived late was still allowed to take the test and ended up passing it & staying. I've taken several online tests since then and have yet to be called back. I'm still trying though.
My final in-person tryout to date was in July 2013 for Millionaire, at a hotel just a couple miles from my house. This time I passed the test, and I talked to a contestant coordinator, who did her best to bring out my best personality, but again I wasn't called back. At least I got a nice t-shirt out of the tryout this time.
I LOVED Maggie Speak, who I met when I was in Boston where they filmed the show in 1998.
You're right, it is a blur! After I won my one game, but before the show aired, some intern from the local affiliate asked what the Final JEOPARDY! answer was. I had no idea - I remembered the question was What was Hanoi? She said to me, "Weren't you THERE?"
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