Is it easier or harder than it looks on TV? The only hard part was competing with the other contestants to press the signaling button first. Otherwise, I felt happy and confident — I was in my element.
How many preliminary tests did you have to go through to make it on the show?
I took the contestant written test twice at Sony Pictures Studios. I passed both easily, but they have a contestant pool that contains four times as many contestants as they can put on the air per season, so that they can get a good variety of gender, age, geography, and occupation. And so after a year of waiting for a call-back after the first test, I flew out and took the test again.
After you pass the written test (the first time I took the exam, three of fourteen passed), they keep the test-passers in the studio, and ask you to fill out a questionnaire about yourself, and list five interesting or amusing things about yourself (from these, Alex’s on-air talking points are culled).
Then they have you participate, three at a time, in a short mock game of Jeopardy!, so that they can see how good you are at operating the signaling button and speaking under pressure. Finally they interview you, based on your questionnaire, to see how you are at speaking casually about yourself, just like you would on the actual show.
When did they film the show, how long did it take, and if you were not from LA, did they pay to fly you in? When I was on Jeopardy!, the producers did not pay contestants anything for airfare to L.A. or accomodations. But I see that now they do put up contestants at Merv Griffin’s Beverly Hilton Hotel.
Five shows are filmed per day, two days in a row. Then the show takes two weeks off. The shows are taped about two months before they are aired.
There is only a fifteen minute break between taping each of shows 1-3, long enough to go to the dressing room to change clothes and pretend it’s a different day. After show 3, everybody breaks for lunch, and after that episodes 4-5 are taped.
During the commercial breaks, the contestants are surrounded by contestant coordinators, who give you tips about everything from your speaking voice to your signaling technique, while a makeup artist touches up your makeup, and another person hands you a glass of water to drink.
You can get a 360-degree view of the television studio here. Announcer Johnny Gilbert sits behind a lectern off-stage to the audience’s left. To the left of the playing board, you can see where two television cameras look out from a hidden window at the contestants. You can see the backs of applause signs suspended above each of the three sections of the audience. In front of the audience, you can see the judges’ table.
What you can’t see because this 360-degree view doesn’t tilt upward or downward, is that above that window with the cameras are displays showing each contestant’s curent dollar amount.
Of all the answers (quesitons) you knew, how many did you actually get to ring in first on? About half. Not often do all three contestants think they know the correct response, so I was usually competing against only one opponent to ring in when I knew the correct response.
There is a real advantage to getting a rhythm into your signaling, but it’s hard to describe it. You see it happening when one contestant clears a whole category.
Did you win? If so, how much and how did they pay you? Was it taxed in the 50% range? We got our Jeopardy!-related parting gifts (quiz book, video game, etc.) right away at the studio, in a Jeopardy! shopping bag (you can see those white bags waiting on a table in the 360-degree view).
The sponsors’ parting gifts we got after we filled out and sent back a list of which gifts we wanted of those we were offered. Some contestants do not want to pay the taxes on all those gifts (they are considered regular income by the IRS), especially if the contestant has no interest in the particular gift (I passed on the Latex girdles, for instance). Then the sponsors send the gifts directly to you. I thought Little Debbie would send me gift certificates to redeem for their products at the grocery store, but they sent me a large box of goods, all stale.
All contestants must sign a multi-page contract, including an agreement not to tell you all the stuff that I’m telling you. The show specified in their contract that the paycheck for the champion may take up to 120 days to arrive; and as I recall, they waited almost all 120 days to send it. They did deduct California income tax from the winnings, but I no longer remember the rate. Somewhere I have those papers stashed.
Do they brief you at all before the show? Do you get to mingle with the other contestants? All of the contestants, about ten as I recall (more than they usually need, any remainder are invited to come back for the next day’s tapings), wait in the green room together, where we are made up, and can have snacks and drinks. At the last moment before the taping began, we drew playing cards to see which of the three of us would go on the first taping, and who would be on the subsequent shows. That’s done to help prevent the show from being rigged — no one knows until literally the last moment which contestants will be on which shows. And the contestants not yet on stage do not get to watch the tapings on a monitor; you don’t get an insight into your future opponent’s playing strategies.
And to answer the question everyone asks, no I don’t know what Alex Trebek is really like, because the only time I met him was on-stage while the show was being taped. Contestants are not allowed contact off-stage with any person that has access to the clues, including Alex. Again, it’s a fraud-prevention measure.
**And finally, what is that pen and light board like?**Well, it’s pretty basic, just what it looks like. One insider thing I can tell you, though, is that during the commercial break before Final Jeopardy, the contestants are told what interrogative word (Who, What, Where, etc.) the correct response will begin with, and the contestants are allowed to write this word on their screens before Final Jeopardy begins. I think this is done so that contestants don’t forget to give their response in the form of a question.
**And how did you decide how much to wager…did you do the quick math or just say to hell with it and bet it all? ** My brother, trained in accounting, gave me well-thought out formulas about how I should wager in Final Jeopardy, based on several possible factors. That was kind of him, but in the end I knew I was going to bet it all no matter what, and that is what I did.
