Tomorrow morning, I audition for Jeopardy! This is cool, thrilling, even. When I asked for the day off, my manager approved, saying, "It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity." Um, not exactly, I've done it before. Three years ago I failed to impress the interviewers and was, therefore, not on TV. My ego really, really wants to be on Jeopardy! Okay, to be totally honest, my ego really wants to destroy Ken Jennings' record.
The first step was an online test in January. Everyone who scores above a predetermined score qualifies for auditions. From that group, a set number of people are randomly selected to audition. At the end of my previous audition, they announced that we were all in the contestant pool. As I understand it, that means we all answered enough questions correctly. After the audition, you wait up to eighteen months to be called. If they don't invite you to be on the show after eighteen months, you can retake the online the next time it is offered. In other words, there is a lot of luck involved.
They sent an application form to fill out and bring along to the audition. They ask for tidbits about your job, hobbies, embarrassing moments, etc. They specifically state that these facts will IN NO WAY influence whether you appear on the show. Then why do they ask?
They're looking for the kind of thing Alex Trebek asks about after the first commercial break. If this has no effect on selection, why not wait until you get to LA? Or at least, ask when they invite you to be on the show? Aaaack! I'm getting paranoid!
I can't help thinking that funny or fascinating answers will improve my odds. Trouble is, I'm ordinary, superlatives do not apply to me. So, I find myself thinking about what makes me interesting ~ my daughter is transgender, but that makes her interesting; I wrote my father's biography, because he is interesting; my mother is a cyborg, which is an interesting fact about her. The most interesting thing I can think of is that I am only six degrees of separation from Adolf Hitler, it takes several degrees of removal to make that interesting. I was once a foot away from Prince ~ which might be exciting if he had been even vaguely aware I was there. I walked in a Gay Pride Parade (accidentally) thirty years before I was ever in a gay bar.
Well, it's better than mentioning my incomplete collection of Nancy Drew books, but it's still pretty gosh-darned ho-hum. When it comes down to it, most of us are rather ho-hum. Imagine you were about to be interviewed for TV, what would you say to keep viewers awake?
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