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."

Comments

Jepardy Prompt:

[students]

Trebek: The worst trolls on slashdot.
You: What is FP?

I'm on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire in a week

[robolemon]

This post couldn't be more timely! I went through the tryout process for Millionaire over the summer and was just selected to tape down in NYC on October 19th.

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.

Re:I'm on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire in a week

[NickFitz]

FWIW, my brother was on the UK Millionaire last year, winning GBP250,000. Don't know how it works in the States, but the cheque he was given by the host (Chris Tarrant) in the studio was the real thing; he just had to wait for the broadcast date to cash it, as that was the date on the cheque.

The only reason he had to wait a couple of weeks was that they were recording a few weeks ahead, as Tarrant was going on holiday for a month. But as I say, YMMV over in the US.

Re:I'm on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire in a week

[NickFitz]

I would also expect that as part of the pre-planning for the show that PAFs would be required to sign a confidentiality agreement.

Not so, at least in the UK. My brother was on the show here last year, and I was a PAF. He entered the competition on Friday, got his second question by phone on the Saturday, was confirmed as appearing (by phone) on the following Wednesday lunchtime, and the show was recorded Friday evening. I was phoned by him early Friday afternoon to be told the rules (no asking anybody else, no googling, basically what you'd expect); then the studio phoned me at 19:55 to tell me he'd got into the hot seat and confirm that he'd told me the rules. At no point did I ever have to sign anything, and although he was supposed to keep things quiet to avoid advance press coverage, no duty of confidentiality was ever imposed on me. There simply isn't time; he had less than 48 hours from being told he was on the show to phone round all 5 PAFs, confirming we were free, before giving our numbers to the production staff 5 hours before recording started.

cliff

[Konster]

With a name like Cliff, you should do alright! ...it's a little known fact...

Re:cliff

[TheWanderingHermit]

Oh, stop being a Claven.

Memorize a few otherwise silly lists

[astroboscope]

I (a Canadian) tried out for Jeopardy! a few years ago and just barely missed the 35/50 needed on the test they gave to go on to a fake game. Of course I blame it on missing a couple of questions like who was vice president in 1882, and who was first lady in 1920. Yes, I'm bitter, but I was bitter before, so you don't need to lecture me about how Jeopardy! is an American show, and therefore American oriented.

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!

Re:Memorize a few otherwise silly lists

[mikael]

I thought that was the question and answer list for getting a Green card.

Here's one...

[kjones692]

Trebek: This is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow.
You: African or European variety?
Trebek: Well, I don't know that... AAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!

Re:Here's one...

[bobbozzo]

Alec: 42

You: What is the Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything?

Alec: I'm sorry, the correct question is "What is 6 times 9?".

Re:Here's one...

[tverbeek]

Moderator: That's not +1, Funny; it's -1, Sad. This poor slob hasn't read one of the most nerd-friendly series of fictional books in the galaxy (or heard the radio series or watched the TV series, both of which covered this point, as I recall).

Although Adams insisted it was coincidence, the answer to "What is six times nine?" is 42... in Base 13.

Good Luck

[BigT]

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.

Re:subject areas

[BenGanis]

Be careful when boning up on first ladies. The secret service will get ya.

Oh, I'm sorry

[wowbagger]

"Oh, I'm sorry, but the correct answer is: What is goatse"

I was on "Remote Control" on MTV.

[Big Sean O]

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!