What's It Like to Try Out for Jeopardy?

“Jeopardy!" was created by Merv Griffin in 1964, hosted by Art Fleming.  It started and stopped until  Alex Trebek took over as host in 1984.  (That's Alex in 1969.)  Jeopardy remains as challenging as ever -- no audience to poll, no friends to phone, and no multiple choice. 

A few years ago I heard Jeopardy was auditioning contestants in Chicago.  I love the show, and I sent in a card with my contact information.  (This was several years ago, so no registering online.)  I was thrilled to get a call at work, telling me that I could take the Jeopardy test in a large Chicago hotel.  Outside a hotel ballroom were 100 potential contestants, all nervous but excited about this first step.  Just picture a hallway full of trivia freaks crazy enough to think they can go on TV.  We entered the ballroom and sat at long tables.  We would see the Jeopardy answers on monitors, exactly as they looked on TV.  They were even presented with the voice of Alex Trebec.  We would have eight seconds to provide questions, and they were to be filled out on a large form.  Eight seconds!  Plenty of time.  Or so it seemed.

As usual, some categories seemed familiar, and others would require a wild guess.  Here came the answers.  The best way I can describe them was that they all had the challenge of Final Jeopardy.  Were they rough!  But think about it -- the show is weeding out potential contestants from hundreds in different cities.  When it was all over, the host of the test said they'd announce the names of the people who'd go on to an audition.  Oh great; I wouldn't hear my name, but we had to sit through the names of the ones who had passed the test.  Funny, it didn’t take long.  Five people out of this whole crowd would go on from here.

Doesn’t that make you wonder about the occasional contestants who stand there and don’t ring in?  Or the poor folks who are in the red and can’t do Final Jeopardy?  Whew!  This had been a fun experience, but -- I could have been one of them.