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Faculty > Q&A with Georgia Southern staff member and recent “Jeopardy!” contestant, Barbara Gooby
Q&A with Georgia Southern staff member and recent “Jeopardy!” contestant, Barbara Gooby
September 21, 2018
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Barbara Gooby with Alex Trebek, host of "Jeopardy!"[/caption]
Answer: This Georgia Southern Eagle is going to be on “Jeopardy!”
Question: Who is Barbara Gooby?
Gooby, an executive assistant to the dean in the College of Engineering and Computing at Georgia Southern University, has been watching “Jeopardy!” for a long time. She remembers when Art Fleming hosted the show, years before Alex Trebek took over in 1984. Earlier this summer, Gooby got the chance to go from a dedicated viewer of the show to a contestant when she was selected from a pool of more than 30,000 people to compete on the program. Her episode will air Friday, Sept. 28 at 7:30 p.m. on NBC. Go to www.jeopardy.com/watch to see channel listings for other areas.
Q: What did you have to do to land a spot on the show?
A: I did an online audition in March 2017, but I missed the March 2018 online audition. In late April of this year I got a call asking if I would be interested in attending an in-person audition in Tampa, Florida. I thought it was a scam, so checked it out before I replied. In the end, my husband and I had a mini-vacation in Tampa in mid-May.
Q: What were the auditions like?
A: This audition was quite fun, really, and involved learning a lot about the show and taping, some practice sessions sitting down, then a 50-question written test. It ended with a practice session standing with two other people and we got to use real buzzers.
They also said more than 30,000 people take the online test, about 8,000 do the in-person auditions and only 400 or so are called to compete on TV each year. There were about 20 contestants at my in-person audition.
Q: How did you prepare for the show?
A: Since the number of people actually called to tape is so small, at first I didn't do anything to prepare. I figured my chances of taping were slim and that even if I got called, it probably wouldn't be for a while. Nope — they called me about a month ahead of the taping date, and we were off to the races.
There really isn't much you can do to study, since the knowledge quizzed is so general and hugely varied. I ended up buying a book called Secrets of the ‘Jeopardy!’ Champions and read through that, but it was quite outdated. The betting strategy information helped, though, and I practiced with the buzzer pen given to us at the in-person audition.
Q: What was the hardest question or category?
A: For some reason, maybe super-focus or nerves, I don't really remember what the categories were except two questions I missed. One was something like “Parts of Things” where they gave a list of parts and you had to say what they were parts of. The other was Capital Newspapers -- newspapers from state capitals.
Q: What was meeting Alex Trebek like?
A: We didn't get to interact much with Alex, but he was very charming — he is very good at what he does. He told the audience that he had celebrated his 78th birthday the day before. Alex has amazing blue eyes. Also, I had purple hair during my in-person audition and my taping. Alex told me about when Marge Simpson from “The Simpsons” was on “Jeopardy!”. He said she was his first contestant with blue hair, but he doubted she would be the last, and that I came close.
Q: What was the experience of filming/testing your knowledge like?
A: Well, it was quite a whirlwind. We went into the green room, signed a form and had an hour or two of instructions and makeup. Then we went into the studio for practice with the mics, buzzer, taping Hometown Howdies (ads for local stations), photos, more instructions and more practice.
I was the shortest one there, and I was about to ask for something to stand on at the podium when they showed us the white taped squares behind the podiums were actually hydraulic lifts. I never noticed they try to make everyone the same height. There are really a lot of people helping the contestants and working with the cameras and all the equipment. It was a great crew.
Q: Do you have any other thoughts or takeaways from being on the show?
A: The crew of people who take care of the contestants was amazing. After 35 years, they have everything down to a science, and they do not mess around. If you get to be a contestant on “Jeopardy!” and stay for lunch, get the salad bar like I did — much faster than the sandwich line. I really enjoyed meeting my fellow contestants — three from Canada, the rest from all over the United States.
Q: Would you compete on “Jeopardy!” again?
A: In a heartbeat. It was a lot of fun.
