Art Fleming was the original host of this American TV game show that Salmon Arm鈥檚 James Cowling hopes to be a contestant on?
If you answered, 鈥淲hat is Jeopardy!?鈥� you would be correct.
On Saturday morning, Feb. 24, Cowling was at the Sheraton Vancouver Wall Centre where he and approximately 20 other people were answering questions and testing their buzzer-pressing abilities during an audition to be future contestants on Jeopardy!.
Getting to that point for Cowling involved a Greyhound bus and, before that, an online tryout involving 50 questions, with 15 seconds to answer each 鈥� though not in the form of a question.
Cowling said about 100,000 people take the online test each year. Of those, depending on test scores and the luck of the draw, between 2,000 and 3,000 may receive a call for an interview.
For Cowling, a self-described trivia hound, receiving that call was cause for exuberant shouts of joy.
鈥淢ost people who take the test, even if they do well, don鈥檛 get the call,鈥� said Cowling. 鈥淪o you know, my lottery number came up essentially.鈥�
At the Vancouver audition, one of two held Saturday, Cowling said he and other Jeopardy! prospects were asked into a ballroom where they received an explanation of the audition process before watching a brief video with the game show鈥檚 current host, Alex Trebek, offering his congratulations. And then it was down to business, with another 50-question test (and only eight seconds to answer each), followed by buzzer training and then mock games preceded by contestant interviews.
鈥淓verybody got different questions, so they asked me, 鈥楾ell us about yourself,鈥欌�� said Cowling. 鈥淚 said, 鈥楳y name is James and I鈥檓 from Salmon Arm,鈥� and the room sort of broke out into laughter. I said, 鈥榶eah, yeah, I know, salmon don鈥檛 have any arms, I get it all the time.鈥欌��
Asked what his dream purchase would be should he win on Jeopardy!, Cowling said a tiny house for his backyard, where he and his spouse could retreat to do their hobbies.
鈥淏ecause it鈥檚 impossible to do that in the house right now with two kids age three and under,鈥� laughs Cowling. 鈥淢y wife can鈥檛 quilt, I can鈥檛 paint, we can鈥檛 do anything, so that would be lovely.鈥�
While he feels he did well on the second quiz, Cowling wasn鈥檛 satisfied with his speed on the buzzer. He also came away feeling the a need bone up on U.S. history and sports. Part of his current studies involves reading through the j-archive.com, an online repository of Jeopardy! questions and answers.
鈥淚鈥檓 going through the archive to get an idea, a refresher on the kinds of questions that they ask,鈥� said Cowling. 鈥淏ecause鈥� Even though they don鈥檛 ask the same question over and over, there are patterns.鈥�
With the testing and the audition out of the way, Cowling says sometime over the next 18 months he may receive a call to come to the big show. If, in 18 months, he doesn鈥檛 receive a call, he鈥檒l know he didn鈥檛 make the cut this time around. However, though it may have been the subject of laughter, being from Salmon Arm may be Cowling鈥檚 ace in the hole.
鈥淗ere鈥檚 the thing; Robert Slaven, who is the winning-est Canadian on Jeopardy!, he鈥檚 from Yellowknife,鈥� Cowling explained. 鈥淏ecause he鈥檚 from Yellowknife, that was so unusual for the Jeopardy! people, they actually called him back the first week. So you never know, maybe being from Salmon Arm is going to help me.鈥�
Until he gets that call, to keep sane, Cowling says he鈥檚 going to try and put the idea of being on Jeopardy! out of his mind 鈥� though he intends to keep watching it on TV.
lachlan@saobserver.net
Like us on and follow us on
