The current count (including yours truly) is 19. See my official Dopers on Jeopardy! count post here.
I look forward to adding Reloy3 to the list soon. Good Luck.
I meant to add that the 15th anniversary of my air dates is next week.
Good luck getting the call, Reloy3! I’m one of the 19 Dopers who was on; it’s been 12 years now, but it still was about the most fun I ever had with my clothes on.
Just out of curiosity, is the test only ten questions now? Because when I took it, it was 50 questions, done in a video format, narrated by Alex – he’d name the category, then read the question, and then you had 10 seconds to write down the answer (except you didn’t have to phrase it in the form of a question). They wouldn’t tell us how many you had to have right to pass, but from what we could figure out, it was about 44 out of the 50. I passed the test on my second try and got the call a couple months later, to come tape a month after that. (And I lost, but my consolation prize was a trip to Ireland; this was back in the days hen they were still giving prizes to 2nd and 3rd place, obviously.)
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Keep us posted!
You’re right. I know that Jennings said speed-reading was one of his “secrets”, though. It must have been something more along the lines of what Marley23 said:
Michael Dupee said the same thing in his book How to get on Jeopardy and Win, a very good book written by a former champion.
Hey, commasense, make it 20! 1-day champ, total winnings $16,500 (I think). 2003 was the year.
Mama Tiger, the test was 50 questions when I took it in 2002. It was all on a DVD. Alex read the question, and you wrote it down. There were some from the Clue Crew as well. They didn’t tell us the number needed to pass or our scores, but I can attest that I got at least three wrong.
Along walloon and blondebear’s suggestions, you have to learn how to anticipate the lights going out and the manual switch operated by one of the judges, I think. This is the single most important Jeopardy! tip I give to friends. If you get on the show, you hopefully will have a chance to observe a game from the audience perspective. Note who buzzes in successfully and note how they hold the buzzer. Watch the show with a clicking biro to practice buzzing in. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that a lot of J! champs are video game player types (I assume) because if you can’t buzz in, well, there isn’t much hope for you, is there?
Good luck Reloy3… this part of the process is out of your hands, but when you’re ready to dish strategy, let us know…
Hi commasense! If the Dutch version of Jeopardy counts, I’m number 21!
First of all, congrats. I got called right away, and went on the fourth day of filming for the new season. I don’t know how they choose, though.
Timing the buzzer is crucial. I sucked during the practice round before taping, was great before the interview, and sucked thereafter. The questions are not so long that speed reading them would make much of a difference. You know or you don’t. To a certain extent you have to have faith that you know most of them, buzz in, and figure it out between the time you and Alex calls on you.
I came in second, but the show was good enough to be rerun. 
One more thing. I bought the computer game before I went on (the only game I’ve never lost at the highest level.) The only real benefit is in practicing betting strategies for daily doubles and final jeopardy.
Jeopardy to have online tests:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/TV/03/22/television.jeopardy.reut/index.html
As the article states if yoiu pass you still ned to do an in-person test.
I’m not sure I’m Jeopardy! worthy, but it might be fun to take the test anyhow.
Brian
Actually, that brings a trap that a lot of people fall into – when you’re playing at home, you try to answer everything. But if you’re actually on the show, answering incorrectly can really hurt you. The obsessive folks over on the Jeopardy forums have what they call a “Coryat score,” which is where you keep track when you’re playing along at home as if you were on the game, making a grid for each game board and marking the squares of you answer correctly, incorrectly, or don’t try to answer at all, and using a straight revealed point value for the daily doubles, and then adding and subtracting afterwards to see how you would have actually scored on the show. It can be quite revealing about how often you try to ring in on a question you either don’t know at all or get wrong. Guessing at home doesn’t hurt; guessing on the show does!
Also, ringing in and not knowing the answer can lead to embarrassment on national TV. I speak from experience. The question talked about
“this actress starred in the movie about gorilla conservation” or some such, and I rang in just out of home-playing habit – and drew a total blank and made the most idiotic response ever, “Who is NOT Diane Fossey?” :eek: Alex, of course, loved me feeding him a straight line and said, “You’re exactly right – it’s NOT Diane Fossey.” Even at the pace the game goes when you’re on TV, it doesn’t move fast enough to avoid eternal humiliation. 
So I highly recommend practicing at home, not just answering correctly but not ringing in. It can definitely pay off when you get on!
Oh, I’ve very realistic about my chances of being called. White, middle-aged lawyers are a dime-a-dozen on Jeopardy! The only real diversity thing going for me is that I am from Wyoming (Geographic Diversity and all). I don’t even have the Mormon thing going for me any more. Jennings blew that “distinctive characteristic” out of the curve, probably forever. Still, I have started TIVOing Jeopardy! to practice, and I have more incentive to loose some weight.
On the whole, though, I’m not holding my breath.
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton]
Do you have any other reason to think that?
QUOTE]
When we did the “mock game”, they specifically told us that they won’t necessarily have us answer in the order we rang in. They were much more interested in our personality than how correct we were at that stage. That was a good thing, as the topics I had, “sports” and “wine”, were not my strengths and I missed almost 1/2 of my answers during the practice game.
If you get on, you’ll have to give us a shout out. During the interview portion you could say something like “hi Cecil”. Then we’ll know who you are.
Other than plating along at home, reading up on some weak-but-requently-asked-topics (Vice-Presidents, African and former Soviet Union Geography, Alcohol, SPorts), not much of a strategy. They did give us a cheap give away pen that was a replica of the buzzer to help us practice at home. I geneally read ahead, too. I have to think about when to guess, though.
I understand that there is some cash as a consolation prize, now. $1,000 for 3rd IIRC. In Salt Lake, there were two tiers. First there was a ten question quiz gven to about 1200 to 1400 people. Those that passed (around 120) were asked back the next day to take the 50 question quiz described above (though all the questions were read by Johnny Gilbert). 17 of us passed to go onto the personality interview/mock game.
I’ll try to let people know here when (and if, big if) I am going to be on. If I have no clue on final jeopardy or on a daily double, I might say Hi Opal or something.
I signed up yesterday for the auditions in Chicago (late Spring, early Summer), so this is a great thread to read (thanks, Walloon!)!
I passed on the on-line version, as I thought taking the test in person would give me a chance to differentiate myself via personality, etc. (provided I pass the test). Was I off-base on this, or does no-one have any idea how the on-line works as opposed to the in-person?
I took some internet version of the Jeopardy! test, and it seemed broad enough to show a good picture of the real test…any opinions on that?
Anyonewant to d/l some Bible stuff into my head for the tryout?
-Cem
DrFidelius is referring only to the mock game portion of the try-out. In the first phase of the test they care about the answers, but now they want to see how well you can play the game, whether you have energy, and can go right to the next category and amount.
In my test, about a dozen of us (out of more than 100) made it past the first part, and in the mock game there was a very attractive woman who I thought would do well. But in the test game, after answering a question, she’d say, “I’d like…ummm…Music…for…ummm…$400.” She didn’t move on to the next part of the test, the interview section.
I have two other stories I like to tell about my Jeopardy! test. In the first phase, while we were all waiting for them to grade the tests and tell us who would move on, everyone was talking about how hard the test was and comparing notes on the answers. Someone said, “If that’s the test for Jeaopardy!, I wonder what the test for Wheel of Fortune is like.” Someone else said, “It’s the same test, but if you fail, you get to be on Wheel.” (I wish I could say that I had come up with that crack.)
My other story has to do with when I got the call to be on the show. The woman who called to give me the news asked if I could come out for such and such a date. I said, “Well, I’ve been thinking it over, and I don’t think I really want to do the show.” She said, “What!?!” I said, “Just kidding. Has anyone ever said that before?” “No!”
I had a great time. I was worried that other contestants would be nasty or try to psyche each other out, but everyone was very pleasant and sportsmanlike, wishing each other well.
The contestant coordinators were terrific. They churn thousands of us through that mill, but they treated each and every one of us as if we were the most important contestant ever. The guy who played Alex on the set during the practice game before taping was making jokes and cracking everyone up. It helped lighten the mood a lot. And just before Final Jeopardy, the stage manager said to me, “If you haven’t got the answer, go for funny.”
I would have loved to have been a five-time champ and won a lot more money (I was on before they doubled the amounts), but winning one show was great.
I couldn’t do half as well now. It’s like my brain decided after Jeopardy! that it had hit its peak, and since then my memory has just slipped away. Oh, well.
When I was on the prizes were a week somewhere as second, and a computer or the like as third. It just figures that the place I got for my prize was 65 miles from home - the prize was a week in Hawaii the day before. It would be nice if they gave money - they used to announce the prizes at the end of the show, and I haven’t noticed that recently.
I did a lot better on the interview after the quiz than I did on the one in the actual show. I tried three times to explain what I did to the staff in terms Alex could understand - nothing doing. That was my embarrassing moment - luckily they cut most of it.
You never can tell what comes in handy. My best moment was knowing that Right Said Fred did the “I’m too sexy” song on my Daily Double. I only knew that because my daughter and I looked for the CD single since it was used for a dance in a play she was in. I could tell that practically no one in the audience knew it, and everyone thought I was an absolute genius. That was fun.