Saddened to hear about the loss of Alex Trebek to cancer on Sunday Nov 8. I am a huge Jeopardy! fan and even applied to become a contestant back on Wednesday, June 7th, 2006 at 11:30am in Minneapolis at the Sheraton Minneapolis Midtown Hotel. I still have the email. I took the day off from work, drove down there, took the test, got my free Jeopardy! souvenir pen, and then went home.
Here were the rules:
“Congratulations! We are happy to confirm your appointment for our Jeopardy! interviews (for our regular shows). To qualify for the show you must take a written 50- question test. If you pass the test you will then participate in a mock version of the game and you will be put in our files to be considered for the upcoming season of Jeopardy! However even though you pass the test, we cannot guarantee that you will be invited to do the show. In fact, even though you are invited to the studio, there is no guarantee that you will appear on the show. There is no charge for taking the test, but you will be responsible for all expenses such as parking and travel to and from the testing center. If you are invited to Los Angeles to do the show you will be responsible for all travel expenses.
TESTING STARTS PROMPTLY AT THE APPOINTED TIME, AND NO ONE CAN BE ADMITTED IF THEY ARE LATE.
The testing process takes approximately 2 hours. This is the complete interview, no other interview will be necessary. Come dressed as you might for an actual appearance on the show. Only the person taking the test will be allowed in the interview room; guests cannot wait outside the interview room. Eligibility: You cannot appear on Jeopardy! if you have previously appeared on any version of Jeopardy! from 1984 to the present with Alex Trebek. You cannot have taken the contestant test in the past year and must not have done any other game shows in the past year or more than 2 in the past 5 years.”
Here is an email I sent to a friend after the testing:
I lost on Jeopardy!
So I did not pass round 2 🙁 You had 6 seconds to answer one question (writing it down) and 50 questions in 30 minutes! super stressful. there were about 50 people there and they 8 passed. most of the people there were older white men. one Asian woman and that was it for the minorities.
they said that 100,000+ had taken the online quiz, 15,000 they were retesting and interviewing (like me, so I am 1 in 15,000) for 400 spots in the next season! But i did go home with a nice Jeopardy pen (and I stole a second one :)!!! ohhh ahhh
oh well it was fun to try.
(Full disclosure I gave the stolen pen to my sister! Yes, I am a rebel)
