Posted by Brian Sorgatz at 5:26 PM
June 17, 2006
Never was a job interview more fun
I had a scare on my way to the Jeopardy! audition Tuesday morning. A power failure in the transbay tube that carries BART trains across the bay into San Francisco made me a half hour later getting to the Palace Hotel than would otherwise have been the case. Fortunately, I had gotten up at 3:30 to make sure I wouldn’t be late. I still had time for a leisurely breakfast at the hotel’s restaurant before the audition started at 9:30.
Recently, the people at Jeopardy! have striven to make the audition entertaining enough to justify the hundreds of miles many aspiring contestants travel for it. They’ve hired lively people to guide us through the process with banter and jokes, to help us relax and have fun with it. Looking around the small conference room, I think I counted exactly 20 people, including myself, trying out. After giving some tips on how to play the game effectively and showing us an introductory video, they had us take a written, timed, 50-question trivia test, the same kind of test we had all taken online to qualify for the audition. (In this particular instance, we were not expected to answer in the form of a question.) They urged us not to drop any hints anywhere about answers to the test, because they’ll use the same test throughout the audition season. Naturally, I intend to honor this request. Almost everyone reading my words is a potential competitor for a small number of contestant spots. So fuggeddaboudit.
After the written test, they had us stand at the front of the room three at a time to play mock Jeopardy! with actual signaling devices at our thumbs. For this portion of the tryout, they didn’t much care about the accuracy of our responses to the clues. They were coaching us on proper energy, timing, and attitude—and sizing us up on how we provided these things. We had to project our voices, quickly and boldly select a category and dollar amount when it was our turn, wait for the appropriate time to click the button and then click it repeatedly. After a few minutes of game practice, each group of three was asked to share interesting anecdotes about themselves, as every player does on the show. I told them about my blog, my trip to the Playboy Mansion, and my unfortunate choice to use the bathroom while Hef was making his appearance there. We were all told to clap when it was somebody else’s turn to stand up or sit down, and so we all did. Since it was, after all, a kind of job interview, we all wanted to show we could be team players.
It was over in about two hours. I thought Glen (sp?), the man seated next to me during the audition, was pretty cool, so I gave him a business card for my blog. He politely told me that, being gay, he didn’t think he’d be interested in it. But I did my best to describe my blog as philosophical reading of a kind that anyone, regardless of sex or sexual orientation, might enjoy. Am I a self-promoter, or what?
They never tell us how we did, but I have a pretty good feeling about it. If I’ve made it to the “contestant pool,” then I may or may not receive a phone call within the next year inviting me to the studio to play. Only time will tell.
A related earlier post:
I’ll try for Jeopardy!, baby, oo-oo-oo-ooLabels: Cintv, Jeo, PJ
Posted by Brian Sorgatz at 5:39 PM
May 2, 2006
I’ll try for Jeopardy!, baby, oo-oo-oo-oo
—as “Weird Al” Yankovic might have sung.
I have a knack for trivia games. Two days before the party at the Mansion, I tried out for Jeopardy! through an online test. I did well enough to qualify for an audition on the morning of June 13 in San Francisco. If I pass the audition, I’ll be in the pool of possible contestants for a year. Wish me luck.
A related subsequent post:
Never was a job interview more funLabels: Jeo, PJ
Posted by Brian Sorgatz at 1:39 PM
Am I just a Shallow Hal for noticing that Dallas public-affairs specialist Jennah Durant is beautiful as well as intelligent? I was looking forward to the two-day champion’s third game on Tuesday, February 5. Unfortunately, my local TV station aired coverage of the presidential primaries instead. Damn! You can’t tell from the headshot, but she has a lovely physique. (In her third game, she lost the championship by finishing second to Babatope Ogunmola.)