Chapter 2
(in which our heroine takes the contestant test again in the Mall of America.)
Skip forward a few years. Its now 1998, and we've moved back to Minnesota after our excursions on the West Coast.
When we first moved to the Twin Cities, Jeopardy was shown at 1am. (for a long set of reasons that was too boring to include). In 1998, the syndication agreement was up and that station lost the show to another show that would show it earlier (5pm). Now, this matters nothing to me, as I usually get home after six, so I'm taping it anyways.
So, why is this important? Well, to celebrate showing Jeopardy, and to boost viewing awareness, the new network held a open contestant search at the Mall of America. This time, the first 1500 people in line each day (Saturday and Sunday) would get to take a 10 question pre-test. Get enough right on that, and you get to take the big test. I think I was approximately 500th in line on Saturday. (Go look at the map of the Mall. The mini-test was given in the rotund (middle of the East side, one of the short sides of the Mall). When I got there (early...) the line already stretched around to mid-way on the North side. Soon after, the line was to the west end of the North side - this was a popular event!
I passed the mini-test, and was told to go to the bowels of the Mall to take the test at 1pm.
The test was very similar to taking it in California. The main differences - Alex no longer read the answers on the tape, nor did he show up to answer questions while the test was graded. Too bad, because that is an amazingly stressful time. However...I passed. About 10 of us passed (I really don't remember how many people passed the test in CA. Entirely because I didn't).
After passing the test, (yay!) we got to play a mock game. They bring with the same buttons the contestants use on the show. That's where the true likeness to the real show ends, though. They put 3 cards up with categories on them. You are asked to pick a category, then a random dollar amount. The contestant search person asks a question, and you really buzz in to answer. And, you do what I call "inane blather" - the part where the contestants get asked a question. Our question was the same - what would you do if you won big on Jeopardy. I said I'd go to France (since I studied French in college, yet had never gone to a French-speaking country). Then they take a picture, and tell you you'll go on file for 2 years. If they don't call you in that time, you're out of the file. Then you're done.
At this point, I had a great story to tell. I told it over and over - along with this likeliness of being a contestant evaluation, based on the info we all were given:
They do 11 set contestant searches around the country each year (the San Fransisco one was one of those). In addition, they do another set of "on demand" contestant searches (at request of a local station, just like the MOA one). Also, they give the contestant test regularly in California, at the studio. I figured they gave the test 100 or so times a year. Each test yields (as a guess) at least 5 potential contestants. They tape 20 weeks of shows in a year - that's 100 shows. If noone ever won, they'd go through 300 people a year. They go through less than that - so say 250. They find at least 500, and probably more contestants a year. Your odds of being called are 1 in 2. I was sure I'd never be called.
Stay tuned for Chapter 3.
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