Many of us love to play along with Jeopardy at home, but what does it take to make it on the show for real? Today, Jeopardy Champion and St. Norbert professor Ben Chan talks with WTMJ’s Libby Collins about how many times he tried out for the show, what it was like behind the scenes, going on a championship run, and who HE thinks is the best Jeopardy player of all time. It’s all ahead on this genius edition of WTMJ Conversations! Listen in the player above.
A partial transcript is provided below, courtesy of eCourt Reporters.
LIBBY COLLINS: Is there a lot of interaction among the contestants before you go on air?
BEN CHAN: Yes, I mean, there’s nothing else — there’s nothing else to do. Everybody’s nervous, so there’s a lot of nervous energy.
Before I went on the show, I had the chance to talk to some people who had been on the show before me, and one of the former contestants told me make sure you eat a lot before and throughout the morning when you’re waiting to go on the show, because you don’t realize how much energy you’re burning up just sitting there through, you know, the anxiety. And I thought that was actually a very useful tip, because it’s kind of a nerve-wracking experience, especially before your first appearance.
LIBBY COLLINS: I read somewhere that you shared an anecdote about competing against Aaron Rodgers.
BEN CHAN: Yeah, yeah. It was a year when he was here in Green Bay and he had, I think, broken his collar bone and so he was out, basically, for the season but he was still around. And he likes competition, obviously, and enjoys trivia, so he started for a few weeks coming to our regular trivia. And my very small team beat his very big team, so he was impressed by that. The part I didn’t tell on the show is the next week he came back, and his team beat our team, and he made sure to find me afterwards to shake my hand, but — to let me know that he had beaten me.
