2010-A College Championship semifinalist: $10,000.
Hometown: Deerfield, Illinois.
Last name pronounced like "en-NET".
Lindsay Eanet Blog Entry 3
February 11, 2010
DAY TWO
The semifinal match before ours was tough to watch. A lot of the questions were met unanswered. So in our meeting in the greenroom, Dan, Ryan and I agreed: no matter who wins, let’s make this an exciting game for the people watching, both here and at home.
And that we did.
Alex made fun of me again. During the interview, when I explained how the film Almost Famous inspired my passion for journalism, he insisted that meant I wanted to become a groupie. I think what he thinks “groupie” means is different from what it actually means. Or at least I hope so. (On an unrelated note, why is every girl with an active interest in music and the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle automatically a groupie? Why can’t I be a rock star?)
I had a much better run during this game than the previous one. I was feeling good. We burned through the categories pretty quickly, and I even swept one about BAND NAMES (although I cringed upon getting “Nickelback” as an answer and having to say it on national television). Alex made fun of me about the groupie thing again.
I had one major gaffe near the end of the second round where they actually had to stop tape. The answer had “Felix-itations” in the clue and it was about a composer, and I rang in right away and couldn’t quite grasp the name until my “WHO IS MENDELSSOHN?” hit right at the buzzer. No luck.
I had the lead again going into Final Jeopardy!, but Ryan was close behind, and I knew he would probably have the right answer, so to beat him, I’d have to go big or go home. And during a commercial break, when Trebek was taking questions from the audience, he’d made a remark about how female contestants tend to bet more conservatively, so of course now I had to prove him wrong.
The category, AMERICAN HEROES seemed vague and innocuous enough. I expected a question about Martin Luther King or John Glenn or Elizabeth Cady Stanton. What I hadn’t counted on was American maritime heroes. I was totally screwed.
I guessed Admiral Dewey, the one name that stuck out as feasible. I was wrong. The answer, of course (which Ryan got, as I’d predicted), was John Paul Jones, a name I always associate with the bass player from Led Zeppelin, so I always forget he was also an American naval hero. Whoops.
My run had ended, but my first instinct was to give Ryan a congratulatory hi-five. I had a great time playing the game, I got beat, and I was happy, ultimately, with how things ended.
What was amazing to me was the dynamic the contestants had with one another. The competition was, for the most part, healthy and all in good fun and there was no animosity, no hostility even in defeat. Everyone rooted for one another and I think we all legitimately wanted each other to succeed, which is awesome.
AFTERTHOUGHTS
The weeks following the tournament have been absolutely surreal. Everyone was prying for the results, but I kept quiet. It got easier to not talk about it after the first week or so.
At the end of the day, I walked away with about $10,000 in prize money, which is a nice bonus. Most of it will be divided into contributing to my post-graduation nest egg/giving to worthy causes, but I’d like to take some of the extra cash and travel. I’ve been thinking about South Africa for the 2010 World Cup. That would be epic.
But the more important thing I walked away with was the experience. I got to cross something pretty major off my bucket list and live out a childhood dream. I got to meet some amazing people from all over the country (if any of you need somewhere to stay in Columbia, Mo., I’m your gal) and create new memories with family and friends (old and new) in L.A. You may have won the BCS National Championship that week, Alabama, but Lindsay Eanet was having the Best Week Ever.
Thanks for reading, and go Tigers
Lindsay Eanet Blog Entry 2
February 8, 2010
THE GAME
I got up at 6:15 the morning of the taping and did what I always do before something massive, which is listen to “Eye of the Tiger,” which is totally cliché but it gets me in the right mindset. I put on my eye-popping gold Mizzou hoodie and was ready to rock. I could hear other wake-up calls down the hall. It still seemed surreal that we were actually getting ready to go compete in the Jeopardy! College Championship.
I went down to the lobby and was greeted with an excited hello from Maggie and a flurry of introductions from other people in college sweatshirts. I was amazed by how quickly we all hit it off –– we were already chatting about everything from football to quiz bowl to opera before Maggie began the debriefing.
In the greenroom, in between rounds of filming painfully cheesy promos (which you will all get to see, you lucky people you), I began to get to know my fellow contestants. I was amazed at the vast array of interests and amazing things each person was doing –– Rebecca performed in the Brown Gilbert & Sullivan Society, Dan had work published in Newsweek, Samira had worked on an American Indian reservation, Will was staying for the BCS National Championship –– these were more than just factoids for Trebek’s interviews, but real people with fascinating experiences who I could learn a lot from.
We spent the morning in rehearsals, meeting the producers and getting to know the signaling devices and the Big Board. We had some laughs (my favorite was getting to respond with “What is ‘My Name is Earl Warren’?” in a BEFORE & AFTER round), and just being up there and playing the game with people was so surreal and exciting. Whenever someone got a Daily Double, everyone would cheer and encourage them to bet it all, as it was the rehearsal game. This was Monopoly money.
Then, the games started and it was back to the greenroom.
We talked, we laughed. We snacked. We watched a lot of movies. Everyone really enjoyed (500) Days of Summer, and those of us with later games got to watch Tropic Thunder and part of Bend It Like Beckham.
Waiting in the greenroom. So much waiting. I couldn’t even focus on Bend it Like Beckham. I paced around, downed mini-bottles of water like there was no tomorrow. Finally, they called us. It would be me, Leah from Yale and Prashant from UT-Dallas.
Leah, my musical theatre-loving competitor from Yale and I exited the greenroom in the most appropriate fashion we could think of: singing “Kiss Today Goodbye” from A Chorus Line. Because that’s how we roll.
The game. There was some debate over Prashant’s sign-in board, as he took our advice and wrote his name with an interrobang (a question mark and an exclamation point fused together), which I thought was epic.
If nothing else, I can say this: Playing the game is as fun as it looks on TV. Just being up there and buzzing in and being in the middle of the action was worth all the effort it took to get this far.
With the quarterfinal matches, the gameplay strategy is different, as there are four “Wild Card” spots which go to the next four highest-scoring contestants. So the goal, rather than to win, is to rack up as much cash as possible.
I got off to a rocky start. It took a while to get a hang of the timing with the buzzer, and I made some really stupid mistakes which Maggie warned us about (finally being able to ring in and totally blanking –– the answer was “Seth Rogen” too, which made me feel even more like an idiot). But when you do that, you have to keep going, no matter what.
I hit my stride in the second half of the game, despite there being a NUCLEAR ENERGY category (Leah got that one). I had a slight lead going into Final Jeopardy! and opted, even with a category I knew well (RECENT BOOKS) to bet conservatively and maintain a high score. Luckily, I got the answer right (the only time Dan Brown has ever been good for anything) and bet enough to become the final semifinalist! Afterwards, there were lots of hugs and hi-fives from the other contestants and we got to celebrate more, as Leah, one of my competitors, got to go on as the final Wild Card contestant. Turns out strategy worked well for both of us.
After the taping and filming a few ridiculous promos, we all posed for a group photo with Mr. Alex Trebek, who took the opportunity to make fun of me for being from Missouri (“Y’all come back now, y’hear. Meet my wife who is also my sister.”). Not cool, Alex. Our friend from Alabama, Will, fired back by calling Trebek a “Canuck bastard,” which sent everyone, including our host, into fits of laughter.
Despite a few gaffes, I had an amazing first day of taping. And seeing Alex retake some of his readings of clues was a friendly reminder that no one is perfect, even if they seem that way on TV.
What was particularly special about the first day of taping for me was that I had not only my parents and brother in the audience, but my friends John and Carlos (who was a part-time judge on a quiz show in Spain) who I hadn’t seen since June, along with John’s brother and his brother’s wife. Being able to have that kind of support system was an incredible added bonus.
Lindsay Eanet Blog Entry 1
February 2, 2010
You know, everyone has their thing, some crazy, secret ambition separate from their daily lives. Some people have secret desires to be professional athletes or models; to spend their days surfing or write a play or retire to farm life. Me? I always wanted to be on Jeopardy! This was always my thing, and I’m still in disbelief that it’s actually happening.
A little about myself: I’m a senior at the University of Missouri, set to graduate in May with a B.A. in magazine journalism and a minor in Spanish. If I go into journalism, I’d want to write or edit, but I would also be interested in working in the service/non-profit world. Aside from family, friends and journalism, my great love is traveling –– I spent a semester at the University of Navarra in Pamplona, Spain and have become a travel junkie ever since. When not burning the midnight oil at both ends, I read, cook, cheer on the Chicago Cubs, Blackhawks and my beloved Spanish soccer teams (F.C. Barcelona and C.A. Osasuna) and occasionally do a little karaoke.
I’d taken the online test before (my sophomore year) and made it to the callbacks, but this year, I was determined to make it on the show. My apartment in Columbia doesn’t have particularly reliable Internet connection, so I had to hunker down in the J-School library to take the online test. I was not the only one. I saw many tweets (we J-School kids are addicted to Twitter) from people who had just taken the test.
I did a lot of trivia to prepare for the audition. My friend Jen and her work friends, Bill and Kim, became my training buddies, and we’d go to T.G.I. Fridays in Columbia to do the automated trivia game. I participated on a trivia team at a Special Olympics benefit (we lost by one point –– the agony of defeat!). Getting practice in person, I think, really helped my game play skills.
The audition was exactly how I remembered it from two years before: getting up early and going to the Westin, ready to go. I recognized a few faces from the ’07 audition and had a great time with the group. They were very funny, unique and engaging people, all with great stories and were fun to watch. I hope they all get on the show at some point or another. |
