Saad's Stories

Welcome back! In my last post, I described the lead-up to becoming a contestant on Jeopardy! including a section about what you don’t see on tv. Here, I will provide a “director’s cut” with my thoughts during the game.

By the time of my game, I wasn’t concerned about its outcome because just being at the studio as a contestant for a whole day made for an unforgettable experience, one that I knew I would be telling friends about for a long time.

**SPOILER ALERT** Everything after this point will reveal actual details from the game.

- The returning champion was Aaron and the other challenger was Barbara.

- You learn very quickly that the other players know most of the answers, too, and a huge part of the game is simply buzzing in first. Another thing the viewer at home doesn’t see: after Trebek reads the last word of the clue, one of the staffers hits a button that makes little lights come on next to the question board. Only after those lights come on can you buzz in. Too quick on the trigger, you get locked out by the electronics; too slow, another player is giving the answer.

- In our game, I was the only contestant to fall into negative scores. TWICE.

- Olympics category: So I don’t watch figure skating, but I knew that Kim Yu-Na is from South Korea thanks to my Korean friends going nuts about her gold medal in their facebook status updates.

- 1920s Lit category: I told myself, if I get a daily double in the first round, just wager $1000 to not have to think about it. Good thing, because it was a total brain freeze on the “Glinda of Oz” question, especially when you consider that Wicked is only one of my favorite musicals ever. For the Sinclair Lewis question, I knew it was “Arrowsmith” from studying the Pulitzer Fiction winners the previous month. When the James Joyce “Ulysses” clue was read, I didn’t know the answer, but… the night before, I randomly decided to read Joyce’s wikipedia page after dinner. So when the clue came up, I told myself, “Just be the first one to ring in, you can figure it out after that.” And so I did (but I needed nearly the entire 5 seconds to begin my response).

- Answering “RBI” in the “Sin” category: whoops!

- Funny thing about daily doubles: there is a screen visible to the contestants, used for the video clues. The screen also shows you when you get a daily double. I don’t know why, maybe so you can see the goofy face you make from the excitement of getting a daily double.

- In the interview, Trebek threw me a curve ball, since I was expecting to be asked about one of my three factoids, not my job. I think my answer was okay, considering how little time I had to conjure a response. Trebek got the last word, though, joking that “nano” was referring to his brain.

On to Double Jeopardy…

- Aaron rocked the Congressman category, using a true daily double to build a huge lead.

- Hooray for the Traffic category, which was, essentially, a category on US state geography. I surprised myself coming up with the Kearney (Nebraska) answer. I’ve never been to Nebraska or looked at a map of the state–how did I know that?!

Good for something besides hunting 2D buffalo and dying of cholera.

- Barbara made a huge comeback in the Tree Words and TV Adjectives categories. She really got in a zone with her timing.

- I didn’t enjoy that category with video clues… no timing there. At least I got the last question on Da Vinci.

About Final Jeopardy

- The studio crew bring up dividers to put between the contestants, so you don’t see each other’s writing.

- You have an eternity to decide your wager. The producers even bring you scrap paper so you can do the math based on everyone’s scores.

- Scores going into Final Jeopardy: Aaron $15,600, Saad $14,400, Barbara $9,400.

- The category was Actors. (Recall my prediction about getting a “fluff” category.) Given how close the scores were and that no one seemed to feel comfortable with this category, I was uncertain what to wager. I decided on $8,300.

- Here is the clue:

WITH 5 EACH, THESE 2 MEN HAVE THE MOST ACTING OSCAR NOMINATIONS AMONG AFRICAN-AMERICAN PERFORMERS

Nope, not these black actors. (click for video)

- My thought process: Denzel Washington, definitely. Another actor who could have won Oscars… Sidney Poitier? My parents had shown me “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” when I was a kid, but I didn’t know any of his other films. Poitier just didn’t feel correct. … My next thought was Morgan Freeman, since everything sounds more interesting when he narrates it, i.e., he must get recognition for being a serious actor. … My answer was Denzel Washington and Morgan Freeman.

- The reveal: The first answer given was Denzel and Poitier… and I stopped breathing until Trebek said it was incorrect. My answer was correct, but I don’t think I had a reaction to this; I was still trying to breathe again. When I saw that the leader had answered Denzel + (nothing), my mind went blank. No! Yes! Is this real?! Only when I saw myself on the video clue screen and Trebek said “Congratulations” did it strike me, I’ve won at Jeopardy!

Looking back at the game, my first thought was that it goes by very fast. I remembered very little afterward but days later clues and answers were coming back to me, like the “Glinda of Oz” one. Immediately after they film the closing credits with Trebek and the contestants chatting, one of the producers conducts an on-stage “winner’s circle” interview. I think I was pretty cool-as-a-cucumber during the game, but in the winner’s circle interview my continued state of shock/disbelief reduced me to near-complete incoherence. So to rectify that, I’d like to give proper acknowledgment to everyone I’m so excited to share this with: my parents and sister, who believe in me even when I pursue far-fetched goals like getting on Jeopardy; Raea and Guillaume, who told me about the online test; Ken Brandt, who showed me how the trivia game could be played; Jamie, who helped me write my factoids and let me watch on her tv so I could get used to answering in the form of a question; and, all my friends and mentors, who have been waiting for me to finally achieve something more meaningful in my life!

All the travel and hullabaloo had caused me to have little appetite throughout the day. Once the adrenaline wore off, though, epic hunger set in. As I wandered L.A. before my red-eye flight back to Nashville, I called my parents and sister to find out if they would be able to attend the next taping date a week later. Once off the phone, I located a steakhouse in Santa Monica (thanks, Bhuvan!) for what ended up being a victory meal.

Tastes like... napalm in the morning.

That’s all for this post. If you’ve read this far, thank you! And, I commend your stamina! I’m so glad I could share this with you. As you might have guessed, there will be another post for my game as a Returning Champion on Jeopardy!