Season 25 1-time champion: $18,801 + $1,000.
Jeopardy! Message Board user name: LadyRochford
Diane Wilshere - An Actor and Playwright
Manassas, Virginia
April 7, 2009
My interest in appearing as a contestant on Jeopardy! began as a child during the Art Fleming era, you know, when the contestants sat down, the top dollar amount was $100 and someone sat behind the board to reveal the answers. I am a fountain of useless trivia so my family and friends had nagged me for years to try out. The first time I tried out was in 2005 when they did an audition in DC. This is before the online test and the Brain Bus. There were about 300 people auditioning and I didn’t make it past the first 50-question test.
In January 2007, I auditioned in the online test. A couple of months later I got a call to audition in DC on Mother’s Day. I expected another huge crowd and was surprised that there was only about 20 people. This was the first time I met Maggie and Robert and they were fantastic about putting people at ease. There were about 4 different audition groups that weekend, plus I think a kid’s group. We were told that we would be in the contestant pool for 18 months, so I had it written into my MD Renaissance Festival actor contract that I might have to go to LA to tape the show.
Flash forward to December 2008, yep almost 18 months later. I lost my iphone between the gym and the grocery store. After a fruitless search I come home and there is a message on my answering machine. It’s not about my phone, it’s Glenn telling me that I’ve been chosen and that I’m to fly out to tape on January 28, 2009. Wow! Made up for losing the phone.
Show #1
Met all of the out of town contestants in the lobby of the hotel for the ride to Sony Pictures Studio. Easy to figure out when there are 9 people holding garment bags and suitcases and they're not going to the airport. We all chatted and everyone was really nice. We arrived at the studio where we were greeted by Glenn, Robert and Maggie and filled out a lot of paperwork, practiced the hometown howdies and got into makeup (thanks, Barbie, I looked terrific!)
We went out to the studio to rehearse. My first impression is that the buzzer does not depress as far as the clicker pens that you receive at the audition. And, as I learned during my shows, I’m buzzer impaired.
There were two things I didn’t want, to go first and to tape on April 1. “Hi, I’m on Jeopardy! on April Fool’s Day”! No one would believe me.
This was a share the wealth week as every day had a new champion. After each show, the remaining contestants being shuttled back and forth to the green room by Robert shrunk. I commented that I was beginning to feel like I was in the book, Make Way for Ducklings.
I was chosen for the 4th show, after lunch. We chose our positions, I got the middle. We signed in and the show started. I was excited by the category The Play’s The Thing, however, remember, I’m buzzer impaired, plus my fellow contestant, Brian is also a playwright and he beat me to every answer. During the break, Glenn had me practice the buzzer and told me at the first break that I was too fast and at the second break that I was too slow.
I was in third place going into Double Jeopardy! Then came my category, The Tudors. I chose the $400 question and was beat out. I got control of the board a few questions later and took a gamble and went for the $1600 question then ran the rest of the category out of order. I figured, I work in the court of Henry VIII for a living, I probably know the harder questions better than my opponents and I was right.
From that point on I zoned. I stopped reading the questions and just listened to Alex and watched for the signal light. About 6 questions from the end I looked up and discovered that, not only did I have the lead; I had a big lead so I was very careful for the end of the round not to do something to blow my lead.
Final Jeopardy!, the crew puts up the dividers and we get our scratch paper. I doubled up the champion’s total, subtracted my total from it and added $1. The category was TV Characters. I figured out the answer from the birth weight of the prehistoric baby. I don’t remember the think music and was focused on keeping it together. I knew I won when Brian got the answer correct. Then I lost it when it was announced that I won. You wanna know what Alex said to me as the credits rolled? “There’s no crying in Jeopardy!”
2nd show
Yeah, I came in third. But the new champion was just so good and as I mentioned before, I’m buzzer impaired. But, I didn’t end in the red and I got the Final Jeopardy! question correct, to my surprise. Most importantly, I can say for the rest of my life, I’m a Jeopardy! champion! |
