Image Courtesy of Jeopardy Productions, Inc.

Not knowing the answer to a question in the final round, Krizel submits his answer as ‘What is I have no idea?’ to a question about Harpo Marx in the category of “Notable Groups.” “Once they told me what the right answer was, I was like, ‘Oh, I’ve heard of that,’” Krizel said. “In the moment the clue [I was given] didn’t get me there.”

The Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for $800, please.” 

The screen flips to the question. Time is ticking. Your brain digs through every file cabinet it stores, trying to find an answer. 

“What is Edna St. Mincent Villay. ”

“That is incorrect.”

You try your best to keep your cool as the screen on your lectern displays the number after the chilling deduction: -$800. The correct answer? Edna St. Vincent Millay.

This is the site of “Jeopardy,” an American television game show that first aired in 1964. An opportunity to win hundreds of thousands of dollars with one’s raw knowledge, “Jeopardy” questions encompass a variety of categories from pop culture to politics and sports. Being a contestant on the show is a mere fantasy one can only dream of. For history teacher John Krizel, however, that fantasy became a reality. 

“My episodes aired in July of 2010 and I was [also] on an episode that aired November 2011 for the Tournament of Champions,” Krizel said. 

What is the selection process?

The process of getting selected for the show wasn’t an easy one. In 2008, Krizel took an online test with 50 questions. After passing the online test, he was invited to an in-person audition where he took a written test with another 50 questions. Once passing that, he was able to stay for an audition where the contestants played a mock game. After the audition, Krizel endured a waiting period of 18 months before finally, in February of 2010, he received a call that he was selected for the show and would be invited to come tape for the show in March. 

“I was hoping for lots of questions about sports, and I barely had any,” Krizel said. “I was hoping for questions about pop culture, movies, TV and music. I had some of those. History [too], obviously, although I was not a teacher yet at the time. I’ve never been great at art history and art in general and science [was] not always my favorite.”

What is I have no idea?

Despite passing the rigorous application process for the most qualified contestants, obstacles were faced, with some questions being beyond the contestants’ accumulated knowledge.

“There was a category in one of the games called British art and artists,” Krizel said. “Between me and the other two contestants, there were five questions in the category, and none of us got any of them right.”

For “Jeopardy” contestants who were just regular civilians, standing up in front of cameras and lights in a professional studio was nerve-wracking, leading to small mistakes during shooting. 

“When Alex Trebek, who was the host at the time, is introducing your [background] story, [you cannot] interrupt him. Just let him go ahead and tell it,” Krizel said. “If he says something wrong, then you can correct him afterwards. And what do I do? Of course, he starts telling the story, he gets something wrong, and I interrupted him. I was like, ‘No, no, that’s not right.’  Watching the episodes now, I was definitely nervous.”

What is “Jeopardy” since childhood?

“Jeopardy” is not a game of luck, but rather one of knowledge and data accumulated over the years. It is advantageous to those who not only have good memory but have been exposed to media and books since youth. 

“I used to watch the show with my dad,” Krizel said. “My dad was a high school social studies teacher, too, so I was familiar with the show from a really early age. I’ve always just had a really good memory. I remember we had a ‘World Book Encyclopedia’ set, and I would just read it a lot because I was that kind of kid.”

“Jeopardy” is the third longest running game show of all time, being a childhood memory for many modern day adults. 

“I loved ‘Jeopardy’ growing up,” English teacher Rebecca Walz said. “I watched it every day after school. When I was in high school, I felt like I was good at the history questions partly because of my AP US History teacher.”

Being only 24-years-old at the time, Krizel is grateful for his experience on “Jeopardy.”

“It’s almost unbelievable looking back that I was able to do it,” Krizel said. “I fulfilled a lifelong dream of mine.”

From the October 2024 Issue of tjTODAY