re: Jeopardy! - Appointment television for a bit here...

It's a multistep process.

- You have to score well on the online test
- If you score well on the online test, you MIGHT get an invite to an in-person audition. People are chosen randomly. I know people who have scored well for years who have never been invited.
- If you're invited to the in-person audition, you have to take an in-person test (to make sure you didn't cheat on the online test)
- If you do well on that, you play a mock game against other contestants
- You get a personality interview

If you falter during any of the above steps, you're not getting on the show. Some of it is not even within your control (i.e. getting an in-person invite). Even if you do well at each step, there's still no guarantee you're getting on the show. You have to wait 12-18 months before you can take the online test again.

Ive been following the OT thread, just wanted to hop on so i can follow this one.

I agree that he’s on the spectrum, mildly, but i think it’s the combination of things y’all have mentioned that have allowed him to not only win, but obliterate everyone else.. the fact that you have to buzz in, not too early, not too late, but as soon as Trebek utters the last syllable.. and he has strategy.. and through winning for so many days in a row, he’s been able to hone his technique and buzzer skills.. and oh yeah, he’s smarter than everyone else, and possibly a savant.. any one of these things alone would allow him to win, but combine them and i dont know how anyone will beat him.

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Were people saying the same things about Ken Jennings?

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I dont believe they were.. it’s just something about this guy that’s a little off.. nothing major, just his odd smile and general awkwardness .. and i dont think its an insult to notice it, ‘different’ isn’t bad.. he’s just so ‘next level’ that its natural to want to to explain it, and being wired differently (which is what ppl who are mildly autistic savant are) would help explain.

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Were people saying the same things about Ken Jennings? ...and I wonder if Jeopardy puts back the 5 day limit after this streak is over.

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Jennings was extremely witty as well which isn’t a normal trait for high functioning “Sheldon Cooper” types

Ken Jennings: What is a hoe?

Lord help him if he'd said "spade".

contestant/sacrificial lamb today (4/25/19) is from Lafayette, LA

Alix Basden
LINK

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- You get a personality interview

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what is the point of this? If you ace the others but are dull and boring they won't invite you?

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It's a multistep process.

- You have to score well on the online test
- If you score well on the online test, you MIGHT get an invite to an in-person audition. People are chosen randomly. I know people who have scored well for years who have never been invited.
- If you're invited to the in-person audition, you have to take an in-person test (to make sure you didn't cheat on the online test)
- If you do well on that, you play a mock game against other contestants
- You get a personality interview

If you falter during any of the above steps, you're not getting on the show. Some of it is not even within your control (i.e. getting an in-person invite). Even if you do well at each step, there's still no guarantee you're getting on the show. You have to wait 12-18 months before you can take the online test again.

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Was on in 2013, and this is pretty much correct as to how it happened. I was kind of an outlier/unusual; did it all from taking the test to taping on the show in ONE YEAR:

-- Online test in Spring 2012. Back then you didn't know your score afterwards.

-- In-person audition session in August 2012. That's a whole several hour process; they take your picture, get some info; you take the in-person test, you play mock games with other candidate contestants, and they ask you some questions and such. Not really a one-on-one "personality interview" when I did it, but the contestant coordinators took LOTS of notes.... incidentally, there are only 4 audition sites nationwide each year. When I did it, i lucked out and it was here in New Orleans. Other candidate contestants drove in or flew in from Austin, North Carolina, Florida, Tennessee-- I just drove downtown.

-- Once all that is done, they let you know that you are in the "contestant pool" for the next 12-18 months. As they tell you, they may call, they may not call. In my case they called the following spring (March 2013) and they give you about a month notice to make plans to come to LA. I taped on April 16th, 2013 for the LAST week of the season; wound up playing on the LAST show of the season, which was aired on July 26, 2013.

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- You get a personality interview


what is the point of this? If you ace the others but are dull and boring they won't invite you?

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Not exactly, but this is ENTERTAINMENT. They get to pick who is on their TV show; it's not just brainiacs or savants who make it. They want contestants who audiences might be able to identify with, or even like.

I remembered the folks from my audition session who eventually made it on the show (one of them was the guy who beat me). While quite a few of the non-assuming quiet types made it, the loudmouth effeminate douchebag from North Carolina who thought he was funny or cute saying he'd spend his winnings "on hookers and blow" did not.

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How did you do?

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Finished in third with $9599 on the board (I got Final Jeopardy!), and took my $1000, which paid for the trip for my wife and I. Guy who beat us had won the day before in a runaway; was a really good 6 time winner and a TOC semi-finalist.

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Did you have fun?

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Lots of fun --bucket list type thing, accomplishment I am proud of. Fun little trip to L.A. for my wife and I, and an old close friend flew out from D.C. to watch my taping in person as well. We all went out for steak and drinks at Musso & Frank's on Hollywood Blvd. afterwards.

Of course, I probably would have had MORE fun if I had been picked for one of the 'earlier in the week' shows against lesser opposition and actually been able to win at least ONE game.

Sigh....