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Slashdot Gameshow Experiences?
Rev Wally asks: "Next Tuesday, I hope to achieve one of my life long goals, as I've been selected to try out for Jeopardy! in Boston. I am looking for any words of wisdom from any one else who has appeared on/tried out for any game shows. Also, from any one at all, I am looking for you to throw random trivia questions my way, to try to sharpen my skills. Any help will be much appreciated, And I will try to keep any updates in my journal."
Trebek: The worst trolls on slashdot.
You: What is FP?
Simon's Rock College
A few observations: it helps incredibly to give a good interview. Sure, you can get the good trivia questions answered, but what will interest viewers at home? Think hobbies, quirky facts, personality traits...
Also, I have some friends who have tried out for Jeopardy!, and they tell me you can expect to play a mock game if you make it far enough, and that it's hard for middle-aged white males to make it on (they get a ton of those, if you can imagine).
And, sadly, I must tell you that there are a lot of people that make it to the tryouts and very few that make it onto the show! You really have to differentiate yourself from the crowd.
If Jeopardy! is anything like Millionaire, you won't be able to tell anyone the results of the show until it airs. For Millionaire, you don't even get paid until 30 days after your air date (mine is January 24th, by the way). So if you get on, get ready to keep a big secret.
I design user interfaces for a free network management application,
With a name like Cliff, you should do alright! ...it's a little known fact...
You read the subject.
I've been thinking of trying for Jeopardy myself in LA.
I'm curious... how many days do you need to take off work to do the interviews, etc?
Nothing to see here; Move along.
Will you be the next Ken Jennings?
~.Evanrude
Being Bostonian you should already know American history fairly well, but my point is that it is worth memorizing a few lists, like
- vice presidents
- 1st ladies
- 1st ladies' pets (seriously!)
- supreme court judges, past and present
- losing presidential candidates
is essential.There are other possible lists, like national capitals, but personally I'd rely on general knowledge for those, while the above lists come under "things I couldn't bring myself to bother studying even when I knew I had a Jeopardy! tryout coming up". That was a mistake. I know most people advise that you can't really study for Jeopardy!, because it covers such a broad range of topics; you just have to know it from lifetime experience. That's mostly true, and most questions are not studiable. A few are though, since the above lists are a relatively small body of knowledge, and it can make a big difference if you hit one on a daily double. I know from watching that most of the 5-time champs know this stuff cold.
Good luck!
If we were ants living on a Rubik's cube, differential geometry would be a little more confusing.
Trebek: This is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow.
You: African or European variety?
Trebek: Well, I don't know that... AAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!
Love the Third Amendment?
I think you need better life goals ;)
When you try out for Jeopardy you first take the written test. It's 50 questions, and you have less than 10 seconds to answer before you get the next one. Most of the questions are of the $1600 double jeopardy level of difficulty. You have to get at least 35 out of 50, but it's tougher than it sounds. Less than 10% typically make it to round two which consists of on-camera interviews and a mock game.
I tried out in Seattle 2 years ago and didn't make it but it was fun. Let us know how you do.
Is it weird in here, or is it just me?
I went on this game show called Jerry Springer. Don't pick the thing behind door number two.
As someone with inside knowledge of how this works (i.e. anonymous for a reason), I offer you this advice so you don't waste your time:
No matter how smart you are, or if you make it through tryouts and into the player selection pool, if you're a white man or are fat, your chances of being selected to actually appear on the show approach zero. The player pool is full of white guys, and the producers like the show to "look like America," not to reflect who actually shows up for tryouts - i.e. almost exclusively white guys.
Also, if you're fat, forget it. Be telegenic.
If you're female or non-white, you've got a huge advantage in terms of your chances of getting on the show. You'll still have to be smart enough to make it through tryouts, though, and that's not easy!
Definately bone up on Presidents, Vice Presidents, and First Ladies. I would also be sure you know the important classical musical pieces as well as a lot of the literature canon and a concrete science understanding.
"The television is the retina of the mind's eye" - Videodrome
I can't believe this question got accepted! I've been asking stuff (tech. stuff) all the time and it always gets rejected.. almost started to hate slashdot eds. do you have to be subscriber and bribe the eds to get an article submitted on slashdot?
God is real unless declared as int
buzz with your index finger, not your thumb.
"Times have not become more violent. They have just become more televised."
-Marilyn Manson
It is very important that you follow the lead of this fine young gentleman:
http://www.bash.org/?993
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"Oh, I'm sorry, but the correct answer is: What is goatse"
www.eFax.com are spammers
Yes, I knew Colin Quinn when he was funny...
And Ken Ober when he was famous...
And Kari Whuler when she was an A-cup...
I won the game but I didn't do so good with naming the videos. What can I say, I'm a trivia geek, not a music geek.
The buzzer is the key to success. There's an off-camera light that appears that signifies when you can buzz-in. Get used to buzzing in after that light appears.
If you know the answer, it's really hard to wait until the right moment. If you can keep calm, relax, and be the first one in, then you will get points for the questions you know.
There's nothing worse than knowing the answer and having the other person beat you on the buzzer.
If you need practice with trivia questions, try to get you hands on "College Bowl" questions. They're uniformly excellent.
Anyhow, being on remote control was one of the high points to life so far (bigger deal than Graduation, smaller deal than my wedding). Hope you get a chance!
My father is a blogger.
Don't play against Ken Jennings. You will lose. I've heard the rumors about him losing, but I don't believe it. If youwalk on stage and see Ken's smiling face, turn right back around and save yourself the trouble of playing.
SAILING MISHAP
Thank you all for your advice. I will try to take it as much as possible. I have been doing as much studing as possible in the past few days, And I am now in crunch time (Its sunday 6pm, the test is on tues. 2:30pm). The info about the "racial profiling" is definatly interesting, and was something that I had suspected (not that its a bad thing, it kinda makes sense, ratingswise). I am a white male (Strikes one and two), but I'm hoping that the fact that I'm younger than the average contestant (28), and live in a state where they don't get many contestants from (Maine) will help me out. That and I think I pull off the middle line between "freak" and "clean cut" pretty well (I manage to keep a proffesinal job, but still have colored streaks in my hair). Hoping they'll see me and think "Ah, he'll atract the younger audience". Maybe not. But, as I stated in my question, I will keep an update in my journal. And I will try to mention /. on the air (perhaps before my own mother). Again thank you all much
-Wally
LOAD "SIG",8,1
First you take the written test. As others here have said, it's a tough 50-question test. While you used to have to get 35 or better correct, they've changed that, and now they don't say how many you have to get correct -- I think it changes based on how many people have passed in each city, but again, they're not talking.
I passed the written. Next, they took the people who passed the written test and played a mock game with us. It's fun! They give you hints on how to click the buzzer (and how not to click it -- don't slap it with your other palm, for example), and generally give you a good overview of what a real game is like.
Oh, and Alex doesn't come to the tryouts any more like he used to. We did get one of the Clue Crew, though.
Good luck!
I wrote a little story about my failed attempt to try out for Jeopardy almost 10 years ago...
check it out - I was a Jeopardy Rejekt
Executive Summary: The Jeopardy tryout tests are VERY hard. 9 out of 60 people in my group even made it to the 2nd round. I was not one of them.
filmcritic.com - Movie reviews on Internet time
Like Ken, the current computer programming jeopardy champion, you need to have funny smart ass remarks.
J eopardy.mpg
As seen here:
http://www.cosmicrealms.com/coolness/movies/KenOn