It’s an exciting week for Canadian Jeopardy! fans from our neck of the woods.
Two Montrealers are appearing on the iconic game show in the coming days.
Vince Bacani of Brossard and Saint-Laurent’s Diandra D’Alessio are both competing for the second time, this time as part of the trivia contest’s Champions Wildcard tournament.
“The first time it happened, I was like, ‘Is this real? Is this happening?'” D’Alessio said of the first time she set foot on the set of the show.
“It’s quite surreal. You’ve been dreaming of this your whole life, and you finally see it,” Bacani recounted.
D’Alessio and Bacani were both flown to Los Angeles in January to record their episodes.
Ever since they’ve been closely guarding the secret of how they did. Their shows are finally airing this Wednesday and Thursday.
“All I can tell you is that it was super fun,” said D’Alessio, who expressed that keeping the secret of her results was tough at times. Bacani said in his case keeping quiet was “not that hard.”
She’s a technical writer and Concordia University graduate, while he’s a risk manager who went to McGill.
Both did plenty of studying in advance of their second appearances.
“For me, the best way was to watch the show because you get a real sense of the different categories that they present,” D’Alessio said.
Bacani said he delved into kids’ books and crib sheets on a variety of subjects like history and animals. It’s a strategy endorsed by one of the greatest champions in the show’s history, James Holzhauer.
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“You don’t really have to know all the reasons why the French Revolution happened. You just kind of need to know some key figures and key events so that level of digestion is probably just fine,” he said.
No matter how much reading they did, however, everyone has their blind spots.
“For me, it’s sports,” D’Alessio said with a laugh. “I’m a big zero.”
“Poetry was kind of a weakness,” Bacani said. “Hip-hop, I have no clue. If it’s not from the ’80s or ’90s, I was kind of at a loss.”
Bacani said the competition is tougher than ever, with some players taking part in trivia leagues where they can practise using buzzers like the one on Jeopardy!.
“They are semi-professional now. It’s not what it used to be like. A person like me would have been more typical 20 years ago, but now these are semi-professional trivia players,” he said.
Still, both contestants encourage Montrealers and all Canadians to try to get on the show.
“In Season 39, we had three Montrealers alone. We’d be lucky before that if we had one a season. The fact that we had three last year was pretty impressive,” D’Alessio said.
“I think it would be great if Montreal had more contestants on Jeopardy!,” Bacani said.
The process starts with an online test, which they both did multiple times before making it to the next stage. You can only complete the test once per year.
“I started auditioning in my mid-20s, and I think I did the online test like maybe four or five times before getting on the show, and I auditioned twice,” the 31-year-old D’Alessio said.
Bacani and D’Alessio say the fact that auditions are now on Zoom has made it far easier for Canadians to make it on the show.
“I treated it like a job interview, which was a kind of a different approach than the others who were auditioning with me,” Bacani said. “I was the only one that I recall who looked engaged when I was not on. They were checking their phones. They were kind of bored. And that’s not the kind of energy you want on a game show.”
D’Alessio bought her puppy Chai with part of the roughly $16,000 she won during her first run, and took a trip to Scotland and Ireland.
Bacani still hasn’t spent a penny of his $15,000, saying he’s saving it for “the next big dream,” which he hasn’t identified yet.
Both say their favourite part of the experience was getting to know their fellow contestants, with whom they are still in contact.
“Maybe the true Daily Double was the friends we made along the way,” D’Alessio said.
Bacani makes his debut on Wednesday, which is Valentine’s Day and Ash Wednesday,
“Anybody who would watch probably has something better to do, but I have asked people to tape it and maybe, you know, if I’m lucky enough to continue, we could do a watch party afterwards or just show everything on tape,” he said.
D’Alessio will be on this Thursday and is having a watch party at her home.
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