I Wanna Be On Jeopardy!

For years everyone has told me I should do it. They say, "You should go on the show!" Would I like to? Well, yeah...of course. Who wouldn't want a chance to earn a lot of money for just a little work, and the chance to use all that "useless knowledge"? Am I good enough? That's debatable.

I grew up watching Jeopardy with my mom. She loves the show. She always has. I have grown to love it as well. My mom and I would park our butts on the couch just about every day to watch that timeless 'answer and question' show. When I was younger, it was an amazing thing if I even got a couple of the questions right. I would try to beat my mom to the question. She seemed to know everything. Looking back, I think she secretly let me chime in with my answer before her, just to make me feel good. In a way, it worked. It encouraged me, and made me feel smart.

I tried harder and harder. Eventually, as the years went by, I got more and more of the answers right. I still tried to beat my mom, but like I said, it seemed like she knew everything there was to know about everything. We even had a Jeopardy home game and a version of Jeopardy for the old Nintendo system. I would play against my mom and step-dad all the time. I never won. It was just fun to play, and I learned a lot.

As the years have gone by, the Nintendo version of Jeopardy was replaced by a PlayStation version, and later on, a PS2 version. As for what happened to the Jeopardy home game with it's fun little clickers...I have no idea. I haven't seen that in years. Maybe my parents still have it. I would like to have one of those clickers, though...

As the versions of the game changed, and I got older, I got better. I have learned a lot. Every time I am home, I still watch Jeopardy with my mom whenever I can. The only difference now is that sometimes I get more answers right than she does. It is still a competition, but instead of me competing to beat her, we are competing against each other to see who can get the question first. To this day, she is still the only person who has ever beat me at Jeopardy.

I laugh whenever anyone tells me I should go on the show. I remember one time, sitting in a nail salon, getting a pedicure with my best friend, and Jeopardy happened to be on. I was coming up with the questions left and right. My friend was amazed. Even the little Asian women in the salon said I should go on the show. I am a fountain of useless knowledge, and my husband finds it all a little humorous. He knows that I am smart, but he jokingly tells me over and over, that the only way half of what I know will ever come in handy, is if I end up on Jeopardy. He may be right. So why don't I do it?

Easier said than done. The contestant exam to get on the show is not easy at all. On the show, you only have to answer clues that cover a small number of categories. The contestant exam is very hard, because there are a lot of clues that cover a wide variety of categories. You have to get a lot of them right to qualify. My mom, who I already said, knows a lot about a lot of things (I realize now, that I am older, that she does not know everything, but almost...) has taken the contestant exam. She did well, but she didn't even pass. If she can't do it, what hope do I have??

The Jeopardy game I have has a sample contestant exam. I don't think I have even passed that. Still, I push on...I have to...I want to.

So...the real question is...Do I do it? Do I keep trying? Just because I know the capital of North Dakota, and that "The Body" by Stephen King was made into the movie, "Stand By Me", does not mean that I am going to pass. Do I have a lot of useless knowledge filed away in this tiny, little head of mine? You bet. And more and more gets crammed in there every day.

The online contestant exam for adults is usually around January or February, for anyone who is interested. I guess I have time to cram some more useless knowledge into my head before then. I think I will do it. And who knows, I may just make it. I guess then I can finally say I have beaten my mom. That would be huge for me. She is incredibly smart, and I have no doubts about where I get my intelligence from. Wish me luck, and if you see me on Jeopardy, well, I will leave a little note for all of you during Final Jeopardy! And you can be sure I will not pull a Cliff Clavin! (Weird reference, I know...showing my age!)

Well, I wanted to post an update to this hub, but I don't really know what to write. I took the contestant exam recently. It was really hard!! The questions come at you lightning fast. You only get 15 seconds to read and answer the questions. It's fifty question,and it was all over in about ten minutes.

As for how I did...I have no idea! They don't tell you!! I can understand not telling you which ones you got wrong, because you could use that information to take the test again, and cheat. It would be nice to know how I did, though. Even just an email saying, "Sorry, you did not pass. You only got ten answers out of fifty right. Better luck next time." I have no way of knowing if I even passed the test or not. The only information I received is, if I did pass, I would be contacted by a Jeopardy representative. It didn't say when. I guess I just have to hope that I passed, sit and wait, and hope I get contacted. My guess is that I did not pass. It was a lot harder than I had expected it to be.

Second Update: I have taken the exam several times now. I think the past three or four years. It seems to get easier. I know from watching the show, that some of the contestants took the exam several times before they passed it, so I still have hope. It seems to get easier, but having said that, I still don't think I have managed to pass it yet. Oh, well. I am already studying for next year. I am reading everything I can, watching the History Channel, and brushing up on my pop culture. Wish me luck!