Jeopardy! Tryout

Our trip to Kansas was crazy so I didn't get to blog while we were there. The trip as a whole was fun, but quite an adventure. That's a whole other post, though. So first, the news you've all been waiting for - how the Jeopardy! tryout went!

We had a smooth trip down to the city, with time to eat lunch at Chick-Fil-A and make a stop at Ulta to stock up on shampoo (we don't have either place here).

Then it was on to the hotel. Quite a few people were already there. I filled out my application form with all my contact information. I was supposed to list anyone I know who works at a station that airs the show - there was no way to think of everyone (except for Alec, of course), so I just listed the stations!

After having very attractive (ha!) Polaroid pictures taken, we went into the meeting room. The contestant coordinators were very nice and very funny. They told us a little about the show, and how the tryout would work. Then we did a little practice session where they demonstrated how the clues work - like the "before and after" category where the answer will be two phrases joined by a common word or the "rhyme type" category where the answer will rhyme. Next was a written test, similar to the test I took on line. Each question was timed. I at least wrote something down for about 85% of the questions. Later I realized I got at least one of those wrong (and I had quite a few more guesses). The last part was a mock game and a short interview. They called us up in groups of 3 and we played the game, complete with the buzzers. Then they asked each person a couple of questions. I was in the 2nd-to-last group and while of course I knew plenty of answers for all the other groups (we watched everyone) I hardly knew anything in my game. Oh, well.

They don't tell you how you did, just that if you passed, you are in the contestant pool for 18 months. They will shoot from July - April for the 25th anniversary season (how cool would that be to take part in?!) then shortly after that start the next season. So, I could get a call next month, or next year, or never. If I don't get called, I can take the on-line test again in January 2010. There were a couple people at my tryout that have tried out 2 or 3 times before!

So that's the story. More about the adventures in Kansas later in the week!