What are your reaction when you were invited to the Tournament of Champions?
Well, I finally realized that it was going to happen when I first saw my show air. I knew I was going to be on the Tournament of Champions because at the tail end of the episode that I lost, Alex said, "We'll see you on the Tournament of Champions", which was a cool thing to hear. I had totally missed that on stage, you know, it was such a whirlwind taping the show. I got the call in, uh, early March, and it was kind of a "Oh, my goodness, I can't believe it" moment, because I have just recently retired from the Air Force. And so, the way this is timed out, only ten days ago, I retired; three days after that, I hooked up the, uh--a U-Haul trailer to my Volvo, drove from Las Vegas to Northern Virginia--to Woodbridge--and then I had less than 48 hours at home before I was going to Dulles airport and flying back to L.A. So it's a whirlwind, but it's the most fun I can possibly imagine.
Did you learn anything from your previous appearance that will help you in this tournament?
I learned simply that, uh, there is such an element of luck, every single person that comes into Jeopardy! is absolutely brilliant. Uh, they're exciting, they're personable. I think the, uh, contestant coordinators have kind of selected for folks that not only know trivia, but have an awful lot of personality that's going to come through on camera. So, there's some categories that you're gonna get, there's some categories you won't, little bit of luck of the draw, just roll with it, have fun, and you'll do better.
What advice do you have for future Jeopardy! contestants?
Be yourself, and relax. You're going to have more fun than you can possibly imagine. There's no point in trying to guess what your fellow contestants are going to do. They're going to play great. So be in the moment. Realize that, uh, Alex is a heck of a lot of fun to be on stage with, and there is almost nothing that I have experienced better than hearing Johnny Gilbert saying, "This is Jeopardy!"--followed by your name with a really big number. So go for it, have fun, and, uh, don't sweat the small stuff. |
