Matthew Church of Prince George did something this week most people can only dream about when he went on the long-running quiz show Jeopardy!, won — and then won again.
“It’s a thrill of a lifetime,” he said after his first win aired. “I’m fairly young, so there’s lots of my life to go, but this is really exciting.”
Church ended his three days on the show with a total of $31,000, which he jokes will be enough to pay for a year of his medical school tuition at Queen’s University.
But Church began his path to Jeopardy stardom the same way over 200,000 people do every year, by taking Jeopardy’s annual online quiz. Open to Canadians as well, the next open audition is in early 2014.
So do you want to be the next Matthew Church? Here are a few tips from the man himself.
Be realistic
You could be smarter than Ken Jennings, but it doesn’t guarantee anything. After Church survived the 50-question online quiz (as a few thousand do), he was summoned to Los Angeles in July to take part in another 50-question quiz, a mock game with fellow contestants, and a Q & A with producers. But that didn’t guarantee anything; even after passing that step, he was still entered into a pool, waiting to get picked by producers.
“At every point through the stages I never thought I would get on the real show,” he says. “I think it helped me be in a good state during the actual game.”
Have a broad knowledge base going in
Several weeks later, Church was told he would appear on the show, and had less than a month to prepare (games are filmed five days at a time, months ahead of broadcast). He didn’t have much time for cramming.
“A friend told me to study a few key things, like U.S. Presidents and the Table of Elements,” says Church. “U.S. Presidents in particular was one thing I did take a look in. We don’t know that in Canada. But for the most part I was preoccupied with school. From the categories I faced though, things like Secret Service code names, it’s hard to prepare unless you have a broad body of knowledge to begin with.”
“There’s definitely skill. You have to know a lot of knowledge, but you have to be able to play with the puns and little clues contained in each question.”
Master the buzzer
By time a contestant has made it on to the show, the number of contestants has been slimmed to the point where everyone tends to know the vast majority of questions. Which makes mastery of buzzing in first all the more important.
“The trick is they only release the question once Alex has read the question,” says Church. “There’s a human person controlling the release. If you buzz in too early, you get a lockout period, so you want to get it exactly on track. The lights go on the side of the game board, but the skilled buzzer player will try and time it.”
According to Church, that also means buzzing in even when you don’t know the question.
“A few seconds go by in between when you buzz in and when you have to actually answer,” says Church. “If it’s a category you’re strong in…you should buzz before you know, which seems baffling, but you play that risk.”
Know yourself – and know your competitors
In his second game, Church was in last place going into Final Jeopardy, facing the category of “Classical Music” – a subject which he admittedly didn’t know anything about.
“I wagered a pittance, $400, knowing there was a good chance I would not get the answer right but still have a chance,” says Church.
“I knew it was a weak one for me. There’s a lot of theory, but a lot of it still is do you think your competitors will be strong? And you do get to know them a little bit before and during the game.”
The man, the myth, the moustache
If you do get on the show, and your face is shown to millions of people around the world, Church confirms that the most common question you’ll get is also the most stereotypical: What’s Alex Trebek really like?
“He’s been doing this for 30 years. He’s bright, he rarely stumbles, he delivers all 61 questions every night, and I suspect if he was playing he would do quite well,” says Church.
“I think every day of taping he gets asked about the moustache. He says it’s not coming back.”
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