Auditions for the game show “Jeopardy!” were held Tuesday and Wednesday in the Perry Paige auditorium on Florida A&M University’s campus. Auditions were open to faculty, students, alumni and anyone associated with FAMU.
Tryouts for the games are usually based in the Los Angeles area at scheduled dates and times but sometimes staffers bring the auditions to other states.
Auditions were held at 11 a.m. for students and 2:30 a.m. for faculty members. Contest applicants were asked to fill out information sheets with their names and other pertinent information. The contestant coordinator gave an introduction on all rules and regulations. After that, the applicants were warmed up with a trial game.
Applicants were immediately given a graded quiz with 50 “Jeopardy!” styled questions. Those applicants who passed the quiz were asked to fill out detailed paper work about their availability and eligibility. According to the coordinators, the quiz plays a big part in determining who can be on the show.
Contestant Coordinator Robert James was the host for the auditions. James was once a Rattler in the business program; he felt it was time to reach out to his former school.
“We’re looking for great new people for the show and FAMU seemed like the perfect place to go, and the students here are so enthusiastic and loved playing the game,” James said. “I knew FAMU was a great school, but being here for the auditions only reminded me how great it is.”
A mock “Jeopardy!” competition was held and applicants were put in teams and squared off against each other.
Geraldine Phillip, 21, a junior business student from Miami, auditioned for the show.
“The audition was really exciting!” Phillip said. “I felt like I was on the actual show and Robert made the experience so cool. He had so much energy and was very hype.”
The audition was complete with buzzer and small prizes to give to the participants.
“The best part of the audition process is when we got to play,” Phillip said. “Everyone was all into the game. I had so much fun. We got some free stuff and the buzzer is really cool.”
Maggie Speak, a contestant executive, was conducting personality interviews during the auditions.
“I love this campus!” Speak said. “The people here are so warm and I am really excited to be here.”
By visiting FAMU, “Jeopardy!” hopes to find some new talent.
“We decided to pick FAMU for interviews because it is the number one HBCU and we needed some new contestants,” Speak said. “Robert attended school here and he told us how wonderful it was so we decided to test it out.”
Applicants remain on file for up to 18 months after auditioning. If they weren’t selected for the show, applicants can then reapply for the show.