I Auditioned for 'Jeopardy!' and Here's What Really Happens
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Rob London
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I Auditioned on 'Jeopardy!' and Here's What Really Happens Behind the ScenesCustom image by Zanda Rice
As far back as I can remember, I wanted to be on Jeopardy! When I was 6 years old, I impressed my Jeopardy!-watching parents by finding out that "this bird of prey also known as the fish hawk" is the osprey; I've been a regular viewer ever since. I've got a good memory, and my knowledge base is perfect for Jeopardy!: broad but shallow. (This is also how I can write Collider articles on everything from silent film to Smell-O-Vision.) I'm not an expert on many topics, but there's a good chance I'll know at least four of the five things that are bound to come up in any given category. I also have a pretty good base of sports knowledge, meaning I'll be able to avoid a "Talkin' Football" moment.
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I'd held off on actually applying for the show mostly for practical reasons; I live in Canada, and most of the in-person auditions weren't held anywhere near me. But when I heard in the summer of 2017 that they were going to be holding auditions in Toronto, a few hours away, I raced to complete the online entry test. It consists of fifty Jeopardy!-style questions in a variety of categories; you've got 15 seconds to answer each one, but you don't have to put it in the form of a question.
I felt pretty confident about most of my answers, and sure enough, a few months later, I got an e-mail letting me know that I'd been invited to an in-person audition in Toronto in November. I wasn't so worried about the skill-testing portion of the audition, but there was also a "personality interview," which I feared would reveal that I didn't have one. Admittedly, the bar for being telegenic is not high: my father dubbed the contestant interview segment "Boring Anecdote Time" for a reason.
Please Welcome Today's Contestants
Alex Trebek talking to the three contestants on Jeopardy!Image via NBC
The auditions were at Toronto's Royal York Hotel, which is fancy enough that the only way I'll be staying there is if I win on Jeopardy! After going through two hotel staff members, one of whom was completely unaware of the auditions taking place there, I finally found a member of the janitorial staff who pointed me in the right direction. There, I found my fellow would-be contestants and Maggie Speak, the show's veteran contestant wrangler. I knew her from reputation because I read Ken Jennings' book Brainiac: Adventures in the Curious, Competitive, Compulsive World of Trivia Buffs. She was brassy and energetic and kept everything running smoothly.
There was also a little mingling with the other applicants. Most people were pretty normal, but a couple of them wanted to be on TV in the worst way. A few people volunteered that this was only their latest audition, and they'd been here a few times. Nobody seemed to be an obvious Ken Jennings, which gave me some hope; if you look around a room full of Jeopardy! hopefuls and don't see the Ken Jennings, maybe you're the Ken Jennings. We ran through another fifty-question test — with pen and paper, meaning I had to make sure my handwriting was legible, for once — and then we got a surprise.
And Now, Here Is the Host of 'Jeopardy!'...
Alex Trebek in front of the Jeopardy! logo on a TV screenImage via Sony
After Speak and her assistant collected the tests, they left the room. Moments later, the door at the back of the room opened, and some guy poked his head in, asking if it was too late to take the test. We all turned to see who this poor sap was, and it was Alex Trebek. He didn't normally drop into the in-person auditions, but he was in town en route to Ottawa, where he would receive the Order of Canada (the highest civilian honor for a Canadian) in a few days. He was exactly how you imagined him to be - pleasant and friendly, able to work a crowd with the best of them, but with a touch of imperiousness that sets him apart from the rest of his peers.
He talked about his pride in being Canadian, hockey (he grew up a Detroit Red Wings fan, but he has some kind words for the local Toronto Maple Leafs), and his favorite Alex Trebek impression; for the record, he preferred Eugene Levy's rendition to Will Ferrell's more-famous Saturday Night Live impersonation. I was able to impress him when I recalled the name of the SCTV sketch that featured Levy as exasperated host "Alex Trebel": "Half Wits," which would inspire Ferrell's Celebrity Jeopardy! sketches. He had us in the palm of his hand for the duration of his brief visit, and everyone was sorry to see him go when he excused himself to his room to get "back to drinking," as he said.
This...Is...'Jeopardy!'
Contests Deborah, Jamie, and Kevin at podiums with their names written and dollar amounts on Jeopardy.Image via ABC
ith Trebek departing, Speak re-entered, and it was time for the final phase of the audition; a mock round of Jeopardy!, complete with the actual buzzers from the show, or at least reasonable facsimiles of them. Mastery of the buzzer is key to Jeopardy! success — whenever you see a player who can't seem to get it together, there's a good chance they know the answers, but their timing with the buzzer is off. When contestants are on the show, there are lights on their podiums that indicate when they can buzz in — if they ring in before the lights are set, they're locked out for a quarter of a second, which is often enough time for someone else to ring in instead. Everybody got a turn to play a few rounds, and I did pretty well.
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Next, we came to the dreaded personal anecdote portion of the afternoon, where we pretended to do the post-commercial break contestant interviews. I was able to deploy my best (and maybe only) anecdotal weapon; I've written character profiles and done research projects for Marvel Comics, a job that sounds much cooler than it is. Speak, who has a razor-sharp memory, instantly recalled previous five-game winner Christine Valada, whose late husband, comics writer Len Wein, co-created Wolverine and Swamp Thing. I took this as a good sign.
We all got a little swag bag, featuring a clicky pen — perfect for buzzer testing — and a set of earphones, which one would-be contestant dubbed "Beats by Trebek." There was a drawing for a copy of the home game, which I did not win. A 20-volume set of the Encyclopedia International, a case of Turtle Wax, and a lifetime supply of Rice-A-Roni (The San Francisco Treat) were not in the offing. Maggie wished us well, and we cleared out into the grim Toronto November.
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I Lost Out on 'Jeopardy!', Baby
Ken Jennings smiling and standing in front of the game board on Jeopardy! talking to the cameraImage via ABC/CBS Media Ventures
I watched my inbox and mailbox like a fish hawk for a few months, but no reply came and 18 months later, my eligibility period expired. I wasn't going to be on Jeopardy! — that time, at least. The show has changed since I auditioned. Speak retired, Trebek died in 2020, and was eventually replaced as host by Jeopardy! GOAT Jennings. Post-COVID, auditions are no longer held in-person, but via the magic of Zoom. I still dutifully try the online test every year but have yet to hear back to make it to another audition. Still, hope springs eternal, and I feel that one day, I'll be on that stage, testing my intellect on national TV. The good news is that I'll be able to use "I wrote an article for Collider about my last audition" as one of my anecdotes this time.
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