Yes, it’s still on (in daytime syndication). No, I didn’t know either.
There are “road auditions” in Tampa tomorrow, and a bunch of friends suggested I go. I’ve taken the Jeopardy! online test a couple of times and gotten qualifying scores, but never a phone call 
Has anyone else auditioned for WWTBAM before? I’m really not looking forward to leaving home at 5 am to make it to the 7 am session.
I’ve never been tried, but I’ve been told from someone else how they used to do it: it was over the phone, and it was a lot of fast thinking stuff, more like the Fastest Finger Questions.
This was enough to discourage me, as I could never handle that part of the show.
Don’t mention your nick here.
That’s what I assumed, but the road auditions are just a written test followed by a producer interview. I think they’ve eliminated the fastest finger portion of the show from the syndicated version and people just play in turn.
I would think that they’d be more interested in personality and TV presence than intellectuals on WWTBAM. The first 6 or 8 questions could be answered by 12 year olds. Last time I watched it anyway.
That’s why I’ll be ignoring Cicero’s advice.
Moved MPSIMS --> Cafe Society [/mod]
I tried out maybe 10 years ago – passed the test but never got called, probably because I’d previously been on Jeopardy!
Oh, good luck! I keep thinking I ought to go try out. We watch the show every day at lunch.
Be very perky and vivacious. My friend, a former Jeopardy! champ, got through to the Millionaire interview stage after acing the first part, but wasn’t chosen because she acted like a normal adult. You really have to ham it up.
I’m a dude. Is it even possible for men to be vivacious?
Go tomorrow! You don’t have to sign up in advance… you just have to fill out this form and bring it.
Jeez, I guess I could…now I’m scared! Just for the sake of conversation, where exactly?
Grand Hyatt Tampa. Full info here.
C’mon. This way I have someone I “know” to have lunch with. 
That would be great. I’m about to go home for lunch and watch the show…I need to confer with Mr. Beetle.
I auditioned in NYC back in '05, I think, and did the show in November of that year, I think. With Meridith Vieira (nice lady).
Let’s see if I can remember what happened… written test; if you did well on Jeopardy! I think this is the same level, if not a little easier. Next was the interview with a producer. I hit it off with mine - I had done Jeopardy! a year before and invariably I get asked, “Is our show harder?” I said yes, as Jeopardy! is the kind of show you can do if you have general knowledge about a lot of things… as you move up the ladder in Millionaire you really have to know your stuff… and the strategy in choosing when to use lifelines, etc. is another spanner in the works.
I was engaging and talked about being a Black guy who occasionally wears cowboy boots and hangs out with a steer from Texas. That got them pretty interested. At the time I was in grad school at Harvard so they thought that was interesting too.
I got the call about a month or two after the audition - I think we went to NYC in July/August and I got the call in Sept., and I think the show aired in November.
My advice? Get a focus group of folks to hear your “I’m interesting” spiel. With a show like WWTBAM, they want people that the audience will get behind. You don’t want to overthink this, but have a unique story that people will say, “Hey, RNATB is a pretty cool person that I want to see win!”
It might work better if you ask questions, I’ll try to remember what happened…
I think I’m pretty witty, but I’m not sure whether to go with dry humor or something a bit more accessible. I can do the latter, I’d just feel odd goofing around during an interview.
I auditioned here in Seattle for the first year of the daytime show. I hadn’t gone for it before because I knew I wasn’t fast enough to get through Fastest Finger, but they dropped that for Meridith’s show.
I passed the test, but I guess I wasn’t interesting enough in the producer interview, because I was never called.
Sure wish I had been. Because they were just starting the show, they were eager to fill up their contestant roster and were paying people’s travel to NYC, along with accommodations and a per diem while you were in the city. That would have been awesome even if I didn’t win a cent. Now that the show’s established, they don’t do that anymore.
Good luck.
Per the application, you have to pay your own way? They don’t kick in anything? Is this common for game shows?
It’s the same deal for Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune.
I’ve done it three or four times, both in New York (at the ABC employees’ commisary, from what I can tell) and at a road audition in Chicago.
It is (or was) a multiple-choice, written test. Those who fail are thanked and sent home; those who pass are told to stay around and wait for a producer interview. Then you’re thanked and sent home.
A few weeks later you’ll get a card telling you you weren’t selected (unless, of course, you were selected; then I don’t know what happens).
FWIW, I’ve heard from people in a position to know that if you are a white, middle-aged male your chances of getting on the show are ZERO.
I’d agree with this, if only because 90 percent of the folks who pass the test fit this demographic. I had a friend in grad school who was fascinated with game shows, even planning an LA trip to try out for multiple shows. He asked me my secret, and I told him “genetics.”
This is especially true for Jeopardy!. I think they salivate when they have a competitive non-White, non-lawyer contestant.