I have been part of the TM for over 20 years though I am new to the forum here. I am reaching out for suggestions here.
I am in the contestant pool at Who Wants to be a Millionaire. That doesn’t mean I will be on the show but if I wait until they call me from the pool I will only have a week or so to study.
Here is what is on my study list right now:
Review all the archives of SD.
relearn basic anatomy and learn the periodic table.
Study weights and measurements, both old terminology and scientific.
Study presidential history/trivia.
Study literary trivia.
Learn animal babies and what the groups are called.
Phone a friend is no longer one of the lifelines. We get two question jumps and an ask the audience.
I figure the ask the audience lifeline will be used for pop culture because I would rather gouge my eyes out with a spork than start reading People Magazine.
I haven’t watched since Regis was the host, but basic astronomy came up a lot: distances to the sun/moon, order of planets, that sort of thing.
Also a lot of “simple” math, usually disguised as currency questions. And science history (first man/woman to do X, inventor of X) occasionally. You can probably skip the “identify this porn star” study, unless the show has changed a lot since I watched.
At one point, I watched several of these evening game shows, and notice that they borrow questions from each other all the time, so the Jeopardy study’s a good idea, as is watching any others you can see.
I’ve been in the contestant pool twice. Never got the call. Do you have kids? If you don’t, I suggest brushing up on kid’s movies/TV and toys and games. I got tripped up by a question on Kung Fu Panda the first time I took the test.
You really need to know some current pop culture, though. There could easily be 2 such questions in your “stack”. Can you handle reading Entertainment Weekly?
I do know some pop culture thanks to my wife’s TV habits. In exchange for “allowing” me to have Family Guy on the TV I have been exposed to the Housewife series and many other “reality” shows. For the most part, I just don’t care about what celebs do in their off time. I need to work on that.
I took the test about 2 years ago. I passed it easily. Even with the pop culture questions.
Then came the brief interview. And I didn’t make that cut. A few days before the test there was a contestant on who did very well, (I would have been better because I knew all his answers and the one he back out on) and his name and my name were EXACTLY THE SAME. So I figured that kind of put the kibosh on me.
Watch the show and look at their contestants. Are you like them? Are they in your age range/demographic?
I do have kids, and luckily for me, I actually enjoy most of the modern cartoon movies on their own merit. On an interesting side note, I generally don’t watch movies where the plot is aviation related because I cannot get past the inaccuracies. The Incredibles had a scene where they were getting shot at with a missile and to the producers credit, the radio calls and nomenclature were the most accurate I have seen in a movie. Go figure.
IF, and it is a big if as you know, I get called then there is obviously some luck involved as well. I took the test twice myself. The first one, I was clueless on a lot of answers. The second time I knew everything but one answer. Pure luck to know almost all of them. The same applies when watching the show and playing along. Some shows I know almost all the answers, others I would have used all the lifelines in the first three questions. My goal here is to learn more about the subjects I don’t know, just in case they actually call me from the pool.
They basically pick a pretty wide range of people when it comes to demographics and I am a middle aged white guy which is a disadvantage. Oh, look, another middle aged white guy that is good at trivia, YA!
That said, my back story is a little different than standard. I was a B-1B bomber pilot in the Air Force and then an airline pilot. I was laid off from the airlines when the CEO outsourced all the flight crews. I decided to go into gov’t contracting as it would be more stable then was laid off there with one week notice when the contract changed.
After that, I decided to try and see if I could make a living with my hobby, which was art photography. It actually worked well for me and while I don’t make nearly as much money, it does pay the bills and I am much happier. I am also trying to break into stand-up comedy here in NYC.
Is that enough though to distinguish my back story from the other millions of MAWGs out there? Time will tell.
Do you have kids? If you don’t, I suggest brushing up on kid’s movies/TV and toys and games. I got tripped up by a question on Kung Fu Panda the first time I took the test.