Thursday, May 06, 1999
Just 'one question' away from 'Jeopardy' fame
BY JOHN KIESEWETTER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
My mind went blank. Eight seconds were ticking away, and I couldn't remember the guy's name.
In the comfort of my home, I would have shouted “Eliot Ness” before Alex Trebek could read the clue: “On The Untouchables, Robert Stack and Kevin Costner played this famous treasury agent.”
But this was the Jeopardy! audition,and I was melting under pressure. I wasn't alone.
Only nine of the 62 people who took the 50-question written test for Jeopardy! Wednesday morning qualified as potential contestants at the Regal Hotel downtown. Only five made the cut from the 11 a.m. session for TV's popular quiz show.
All we had to do was correctly answer 35 of 50 questions flashed on a TV every eight seconds. All we needed was 70 percent right, a D-minus for my fourth-grader.
But this was Jeopardy!
On the video, Mr. Trebek warned us: “It is more difficult to take this test than appear on Jeopardy! because it has 50 different categories.
“We will not reveal your score at all. So when people ask how you did, you can say, "Alex told me personally that I missed the cut by just one.' No one will ever know.”
While I racked my brain for Eliot Ness, up popped a mythology question. Then came a blur of trivia about 12th-century history, Nobel Prize winners, Czechoslovakian tennis, islands and Latin.
Suddenly it occurred to me that I wouldn't be heading to Hollywood to say, “Alex, I'll take "Potent Potables' for $200.”
When the seven-minute quiz ended, I had scribbled 32 answers. Even if I aced them all — Hah! — I was three short of 70 percent. (Grades like this would qualify me for Alex Trebek's first job, a Cincinnati garbage man. He was 18.)
Even if I had studied Trivial Pursuit cards as did Dave Abbott, the 1999 Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions winner from Sharonville, I probably would have bombed the test.
“It was harder than I thought,” said a disappointed Z. Carlson from Oxford after flunking out with me. “They should have given us the questions they use on Celebrity Jeopardy!”
Jeopardy! made it deliberately tough on us to find the smartest. “We are looking for well-rounded people that our viewers can be rooting for,” said Jeopardy! staffer Glenn Kagan.
And, I guess, to save us from the embarrassment of ending up at Final Jeopardy $80,000 in debt.
“People who do well on the show, like Dave Abbott, can recall information instantly,” said Laine Sutten, Jeopardy! publicist. “A lot of people say, "I know that.' But the ability to recall instantly sets them apart.”
Only 10 to 15 percent of adults pass the Jeopardy! test. Tristate children were far more successful, with 48 of 130 child-parent teams (36 percent) qualifying Tuesday for a new “Family Jeopardy!” tournament scheduled for later this year, Mrs. Sutten said.
The few who passed played a mock Jeopardy! round so staffers could see their performance and personality under pressure.
With buzzer in hand, John Walker, special events manager at Miami University, said he “worried my mind would go blank.” (It didn't.)
Finalist Tom Connelly of Fort Mitchell said the experience was “about what I expected.”
Now they can wait by the phone. Many are chosen, but few are called.
Jeopardy! will pick 400 people for TV tapings July through March from the 700-plus who passed tryouts in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, Dallas, Phoenix, Washington, Cleveland and Cincinnati.
Up to 25,000 people audition for the show each year. When anyone asks how I did, I'll say that I missed the cut by just one. Alex said so.
John Kiesewetter is Enquirer TV/radio critic.
John Kiesewetter is Enquirer TV/radio critic. Write him at 312 Elm St., Cincinnati, 45202.
