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Jeopardy! Tryout Screenings Go Online 102

Posted by samzenpus from the what-is-what-could-go-wrong-alex dept.
KingSkippus writes "According to a CNN article, the television game show Jeopardy! is now offering online contestant screenings in addition to conducting contestant searches in various cities across the country. Potential contestants will still have to pass an interview and an additional test in person to be considered for the pool of 400 contestants each year, but now the next Ken Jennings can apply without leaving the comfort of his or her own chair. The first online screenings begin March 28."
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Jeopardy! Tryout Screenings Go Online More

Jeopardy! Tryout Screenings Go Online

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  • Great... (Score:5, Funny)

    by dark_15 ( 962590 ) on Thursday March 23, 2006 @09:41AM (#14979824)
    So now I can scream the answers at my computer instead of the TV! Gotta love technology...

    • Re:Great... (Score:4, Funny)

      by lillgud ( 951277 ) on Thursday March 23, 2006 @10:04AM (#14979934) Homepage
      So now I can scream the answers at my computer instead of the TV! Gotta love technology...

      Yeah, but you're supposed to scream the question.

    • Re:Great... (Score:4, Funny)

      by Alex P Keaton in da ( 882660 ) on Thursday March 23, 2006 @11:27AM (#14980448) Homepage
      I think they meant:
      What is, screenings are going online, alex.
      Your answer wasn't in the form of a question....
      • "What is, screenings are going online, alex." Questions end in question marks.
        • Are you and English teacher, or just an asshole?
          • "Are you and English teacher"

            AN english teacher ...

            At least you used a question mark.
            • Are you a typing teacher, of just an asshole! Wait, that should be a question mark. Are you a typing teacher, or just an asshole? Shoot, which is correct? Can you help me out- that question is rhetorical, you clearly are an asshole, so do I need the question mark?
              By the way, welcome to the internet, where some quickly written messages lack proper punctuation. Also, sometimes, GASP! typos show up!
              But seriously, I do appreciate your help. I wish I had you around when I was working on my Master's thesis!
              He
              • "Are you a typing teacher, of just an asshole!"

                  Dude, just quit typing. Proper typing and punctuation online, in public forums, is often used as a watermark for one's intelligence, just like proper speech in real life. Type like a moron, be interpreted as a moron, and you've no one to blame but your lazy self. Might as well leave the caps lock on while you're at it.
          • No, I don't think he's an asshole. Look at his punctuation. See? No colon.
    • So now I can scream the answers at my computer instead of the TV! Gotta love technology...

      Please rephrase that in the form of a question.

  • Easier and Cheaper for People (Score:3, Interesting)

    by brian23 ( 962399 ) on Thursday March 23, 2006 @09:42AM (#14979828)
    Finally, a shift away from having to fly to California and waste about $500 on room and board for a chance that you may not get on the show.

  • 'I'll take "The-Rapists" for $200, Alex' (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    That's Therapists

  • All I hope... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Heem ( 448667 ) on Thursday March 23, 2006 @09:48AM (#14979863) Homepage Journal
    I just hope that the website works cross platform. I'd hate to miss my chance to appear on Jeopardy (not that I have much of one) just because I refuse to run IE and/or Windows

    • Re:All I hope... (Score:3, Interesting)

      by JBReynolds ( 89849 )
      Prepare to be disappointed, then. Their Web page [jeopardy.com] states that it requires MSIE 5.0 or later and Flash 7.
      • It also says that they don't expect problems if you don't use IE but like all idiot corporations these days (or most of them?) they "recommend" it. But I plan to use my Mac, running Firefox, anyway (I registered yesterday).
  • man was it hard. we assembled in a hotel conference room in midtown manhattan. the staff played a little intro tape of the talking head of trebek wishing us good luck and giving us the intructions, then it was off to questions: 50 fill-in-the-blank questions

    you needed to get 35 right to move onward. stuff onvloving the minutiae of the battle of bull run, and various french names for certain foot movements in ballet. very hard

    i would say out of a roomful of 200 people, 5 moved forward

    no, i wasn't one of them ;-P

    i can only wonder at what sort of cheating preventatives they'll employ for online: like a huge pool of questions (so repeating the test won't yeild value), and a 5 second countdown to answer questions... i hope

    or we won't be seeing the next ken jennings from online jeopardy applications, we'll be seeing the next script kiddie
    • There will be a 15 second limit online, and as you have to type the answer, that doesn't leave you much time to Google anything really. I tried out for the college version (which has a cut-off higher than the 35 limit of the regular one, but uses the same test, since they can only take 15 people a year) and made it to the final level of cuts, but didn't get in. I've been waiting since then to get a chance to try out again so I will be doing this online next week.
    • As clearly mentioned on the page this is a *preliminary screening* process. There will be further screening for those who advanced.
    • I went to one near Central Park south (fail) and later they started doing tests at Merv Griffin's casino in AC (pass, not chosen), and then just a screening at the Pequot Sun casino in CT (pass), and finally again in Manhattan (PASS AND CHOSEN!)

      I'll answer all the stupid questions now.

      They do not pay for your flight or hotel. They do not give you the answers beforehand. Yes, you have to pay taxes on winnings. No, Alex is not cool, he is a jerk.

      I was on three shows (two wins), you'll see me on Game Show netw
      • show some love, you thankless twit

        you got cash for your knowledge of minutiae, and were in a position thousands of others would love to be in

        why show so much negativity over a life experience which can only be exciting?

        what personality disorder do you suffer from exactly?
        • Since you asked so nicely, cts... $28,601 + a Gateway PC + Sauder computer furniture + Libman ops + a case of Jergens lotion + electronic Jeopardy home game + A YEAR'S SUPPLY OF SIOUX BEE HONEY! (The honey actually lasted much longer than a year.)

          Subtract the cost of the flight and hotel and rental car.

          It's NOT FUN being a contestant. It's work. Fill out forms, get made-up, change clothes quickly between shows, GET INTERVIEWED BY A JERK ON TV (they cut out the banter between Alex and me on one show, he was
          • to convince me that you are, indeed, so utterly thankless?

            ever hear the phrase "don't look a gift horse in the mouth"?

            what does that phrase mean to you? what lesson about life is meant to be gleaned from this nugget of common sense?

            please, write the article on k5, my intrigue now is to get at what makes you so selfish that you can't appreciate the experience AND the gobs of money for so little time and effort!

            you truly have some sort of god-awful handicapping personality disorder
            • Hey, you were the one who wanted to know how much I won.

              If I were to meet Merv Griffin, I would thank him for creating the game. I thanked the contestant coordinators. Alex, who I repeat is a JERK, gets no thanks, but he no doubt got a bigger paycheck than I did for far less effort.

              I'd also like to thank the data entry operator from South Carolina who I beat on the second show, since she took time off from work, brought her family with her, and ended up with those fine watches (and mops), probably ending up
              • someone as thankless as you must have some pretty difficult times establishing personal relationships

                to be on a game show, to win over $25K, and have nothing but complaints?

                wow

                you're pretty pathetic dude

                • I don't see you as being all that much better. At least Bob Cat is an entertaining read.

                  You, however, jump out of nowhere to harass him about having the nerve say he was less than thrilled by the experience.

                  Whether or not you agree with him, that's your choice, sure. But insulting him needlessly because you still worship Alex doesn't change his mind and force him to realize that "hey, maybe I really *am* pathetic and so therefore Alex isn't such a bad guy after all."

                  In a contest to see who's the

                  • Thanks! For defending me, I'd like to send you the last bottle of the Jergin's Lotion! It's a bit congealed after 7 years, actually. Even for a slashdotter, it's hard to use up a case of the stuff. I forgot to mention the Mrs. Buttersworth Syrup coupons, too, but they're long gone,anyway.

                    The best part of this whole discussion is that cts made me his foe! How awesome is that?
                  • "Personally, I think human dignity is worth more than a mere $25,000 and if you have to be treated as cattle and herded onstage and off so the network can make their cash, it's not necessarily worth it"

                    wtf?!

                    BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

                    uh... uh... can't breath

                    BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

                    ah, the priorities of the coddled fat rich western self-involved child

                    oh man, thanks for the laugh, you're making me tear up from laughing, i needed that belly laugh

                    we have people scraping by on less than a dollar a day
                    • You'd throw away your dignity and self-respect for a mere $25K yet you call us sad and shallow? Next time I pass a donation box, I'll throw a dollar in for you. Take yourself out somewhere nice. And remember to thank me.
    • They just *said* it was 35. They don't reveal the actual number you need.

      Sconeu -- Jeopardy contestant, airdate March 1991.
    • Anybody watch it last night? The lady who won was previously on once a long time ago, before they even had Alex. The first time around she got $60 and a board game. This time she won about $20,000. Most of the contestants are equally as lame as your average Joe, but every now and then somebody has an interesting story during the introductions.

  • Prediction (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Slightly Askew ( 638918 ) on Thursday March 23, 2006 @09:54AM (#14979900) Journal

    This will last all of 2 weeks before the list of questions and answers is published in its entirety on the Internet and the spike in successful entries causes Jeopardy to shut down the program.

    On a side note, I took one of these tests when the Jeopardy bus was touring the US and thought the questions were very age-biased. There were a disproportionate number of questions about events about late 60's / early 70's pop culture. I wonder if they target those in their mid 30's to mid 50's, as this is probably their target viewing audience as well. As a child of the 80's, I could have told them who shot John Lennon or Ronald Reagan, but not who shot Andy Warhol. I also would have preferred they ask about bumbling superheros with suits from outer space and not superheros with the powers of an Egyptian goddess.

    • Re:Prediction (Score:3, Insightful)

      by hal2814 ( 725639 )
      Do you think they want smarter people on the show? I imagine the Internet questionsing gives them a great opportunity to prevent another Jennings by dumbing down the entire applicant pool by selecting people who can search the Web the best instead of people who just know more trivia.

      Of course the questions are geared towards getting people in their target viewing audience on the show but those types of questions are also the ones that are actually on the show. What's really interesting is that the pop cul
      • I imagine the Internet questionsing gives them a great opportunity to prevent another Jennings by dumbing down the entire applicant pool by selecting people who can search the Web the best instead of people who just know more trivia.

        Ummm, that would tend to create another Jennings by increasing the advantage of outliers over the median.

      • I would think that they wanted another Jennings. That was when I found the show the most exciting. They were getting more press and viewership than ever before.
        • I found it boring as hell and actually quit watching during that time because it was boring to always know who would win. I found a report of when Jennings would finally lose and just kept wiping it off my Tivo, without ever watching, before that day.
      • "I imagine the Internet questioning gives them a great opportunity to prevent another Jennings"

        Yes, I can't imagine why those silly Jeopardy people would want their show mentioned that much, or god forbid watched that much.

        Ken Jennings got the Jeopardy people more press than they've had in years. What you've said makes no sense.
      • More likely, they are trying to improve the chances of those people who GET to try out. In my day (c. 1992) I had to send in a postcard and be randomly selected to take the test. I guess I was smart enough to send in 40, but I don't think a rudimentary knowledge of probablility is what they are going for.

        And on your other note, they would LOVE to have another Ken Jennings -- their ratings shot up by about a third. Which is why they held that Ultimate Tournament of Champions last year to get him back o

    • Re:Prediction (Score:2, Insightful)

      by DerGeist ( 956018 )
      Umm...who said they were going to re-use questions?

      If you read the article you'll see the tests are at specific dates and times. One night they use a set of questions, the next another, and so on.

      A better argument would be to suggest that this opens the doorway for collusion since you can use AIM, your phone, a bunch of friends, whatever to draw from a bigger Q/A pool but all you'll buy yourself is an embarassing interview and written test later on.

    • bumbling superheros with suits from outer space

      There's always the popular "Blithering Blatherscythe!", don't think they've had that one yet.

    • Re:Prediction (Score:3, Informative)

      by British ( 51765 )
      Have you checked out the other questions they typically ask on an episode? It goes back further than that. You would have to have been living in France during the 1700s to get some of those dang questions right.
    • Actually it will last for 3 days. Each time zone (with mountain and central combined) reports at the same time on the same night. Then you'll be waiting for next year/quarter for another shot.

  • My sincere apologies... (Score:5, Funny)

    by D3r1v3D ( 526854 ) on Thursday March 23, 2006 @09:58AM (#14979919)
    Alex Trebek: And in last place with negative 120,000 (sighs and pauses) Sean Connery.

    Sean Connery: Well, well, well Trebek. Fancy seeing you here. It's been a while.

    Alex Trebek: Not long enough.

    Sean Connery: That's not what your mother said last night.

    Alex Trebek: Okay Here are the categories for double jeopardy. (Board appears)

    They are: POTENT POTABLES, COLORS THAT ARE RED, JAPAN US RELATIONS; I have no idea what that category is doing up there.

    Sean Connery: I had relations this morning Trebek, hope we didn't wake you. Your mother's a screamer.

    Alex Trebek: For your information my mother's in a nursing home in Alberta, Canada.

    Sean Connery: Oh she was nursing it alright.
    • Alex Trebek: Good work, all right. Finally, Mr. Connery.. the category was Numbers, and you wrote.. [ shows his screen ] ..a letter V. Well, I tell you what, my friend - V is a Roman numeral, so despite your best efforts, you answered correctly. Let's see what you wagered.. [ wager is revealed to use the V as part of a K in "Suck it Trebek" ] "Suck it Trebek". [ Connery laughs wildly ] That's all the time we have. Good night, my.. [ Reynolds places over-sized hat on Trebek's head ] Would you get that off of

    • Re:My sincere apologies... (Score:4, Funny)

      by dr_dank ( 472072 ) on Thursday March 23, 2006 @10:21AM (#14980019) Homepage Journal
      The ones with Norm Macdonald doing Burt Reynolds were gold. Midway through this sketch, Burt Reynolds changes his name to "Turd Ferguson".

      Alex Trebek: That's not the right answer. [ Reynolds buzzes in ] Burt Reynolds.

      Burt Reynolds: That's not my name.

      Alex Trebek: Okay. Turd Ferguson.

      Burt Reynolds: [ laughs ] Yeah, what do ya want?

      Alex Trebek: You buzzed in!

      Burt Reynolds: No I didn't.

      Alex Trebek: Yes you did!

      Burt Reynolds: Yeah, well, that's your opinion.

      Source [jt.org]
      • Pure comedy gold, my friends, with apologies to SNL Transcripts [jt.org]:

        Alex Trebek: [ shakes head ] Let's just go with Foreign Flicks for $800. [ Connery buzzes in. ]

        Sean Connery: Ursula Andress.

        Alex Trebek: What?

        Sean Connery: Ursula Andress, Catherine Deneuve, and Charo, twice.

        Alex Trebek: That's Foreign Flicks, Mr. Connery. Foreign Flicks. Mr. Reeves, why don't you pick?

        Keanu Reeves: I shall take Balloons for $800, if you please.

        Alex Trebek: That's not a category.

        Keanu Reeves: My mistake. I shall

    • Re:My sincere apologies... (Score:5, Funny)

      by CheechBG ( 247105 ) on Thursday March 23, 2006 @10:23AM (#14980039) Homepage
      BUCK FUTTER!

      Connery: "I've got to ask you...about the Penis Mightier."
      Trebek: "No, no, no, that's The Pen is Mightier!"
      C: "Gussy it up however you want Trebek, what matters is, does it work! Will it really mighty my penis man!"
      Nicholas Cage: "wait, wait, wait, you guys are selling penis mightiers?!"

  • Not the strangest thing I've seen on a game show. (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    KEBERT XELA

  • Hopefully... (Score:5, Funny)

    by TheNoxx ( 412624 ) on Thursday March 23, 2006 @10:11AM (#14979968) Homepage Journal
    This will bring whole new meaning to the term "slashdotted":

    Trebek: "You wagered everything you had and your answer is... CowboyNeal? The hell...?"
    • I think Slashdot should offer a bounty of $1000 to the first person who actually gets on Jeopardy and answers "Who is CowboyNeal?" during Final Jeopardy. Just for the pure fun of it.

      If Slashdot won't/can't do it themselves, then a group of Slashdotters should. Hell, I'd contribute $50 to the cause. Who's with me?

  • Ken Who? (Score:2, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Not to be a stickler - but it amazes me that Ken Jennings is always quoted in stories that relate to Jeopardy - like he's the greatest ever or something. Brad Rutter was actually the winningest Jeopardy contestant before Ken Jennings came along and there were restrictions on how long a contestant could be on the show. Then he proceeded to kick Jennings' a$$ on the Jeopardy Master's tournament and reclaimed the title. So - in fairness - we really ought to say "the next Brad Rutter". I'm just sayin....
    • Actually, I wonder if it would have worked better for Ken if he was actually able to compete against these guys equally, rather than be given a bye, basically. In that final, he sure looked rusty, while the other guys had been competing for weeks.
  • They answer the answers
  • According to the Contest Overview [jeopardy.com], you can't "PHRASE YOUR RESPONSE IN THE FORM OF A QUESTION!" What are they changing the rules?

  • Did this already (Score:3, Informative)

    by The_Steel_General ( 196801 ) on Thursday March 23, 2006 @12:07PM (#14980821)
    I was one of the test subjects for this process. I'd signed up for future auditions on their website, and got an email one day: Go to this website on this day - at this specific time - to take an online test.

    They had a page with a Flash application that gave you questions and a place to enter your answer. Didn't have to be in the form of a question, which was fortunate, because you didn't get much time to enter it. There were plenty I barely answered, so I can't imagine typing it into Google first. (Just realized: Because it was Flash, you couldn't copy and paste it there, either.) No going back to previous questions, either.

    I evidently did well enough, because I was called to an in-person audition as well. It sounds like it was about the same as previous auditions as mentioned elsewhere in this thread. In any case, the people there said they were testing this to do the initial filter on contestants - previously, they'd pull dozens (hundreds?) of hopefuls, they'd take the test, wait an hour to get them tested, and most wouldn't do well enough to go to the next step. (One audition was mentioned where NOBODY did well enough on the test to move forward.)

    The one I was at had maybe 30-40 people, and everyone passed the written: They made us take another test, similar to the online one but written rather than electronic. Different questions, just the answers again, and not a lot of time to get it right. (But you could, if you wanted, go back and change your answers. Not that you had time for that.)

    Evidently, the rest of the audition was just like it used to be: Take people three at a time to play a mock game, to see how you handle being in front of people. I thought I did okay...but haven't heard back yet. And they said that the only way we'd know how we did was if we heard back within a year. Still waiting...

    TSG
  • The page says you have to have a PC with Explorer to take the test. Grrr, no Mac/Safari. I guess they know that the average Mac user is smarter and will blow the other contestants away.

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