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(Thanks, Beau! Good work here and on the show of course. Congratulations.)
Hi, there, Jeopardy! fans! Firstly, a big, big thanks to Jeanie for asking me to write a guest entry. For those of you who've never had the good fortune to meet your enterprising blogress in person: she's just a delight. Thanks again, Jeanie!
And now I have to figure out what I can tell y'all. I'm no expert in Coryats or DD hunting, and anyone who saw my first episode knows that I have the betting strategy of a dyscalculic time traveler. So, beyond asking WWWD? (What Would Watson Do?), I'm coming up short on the pre-show advice.
However! I did learn a few things during my time on the show, and that's what I figure I can offer.
First, J! folks are stellar. Taping day felt like camp (I imagine from what movies tell me. We don't really do summer camp back in farm country.) -- everyone was warm and supportive and funny, even though nerves did send a few of us into fits of solitude. Fellow contestant Ruth and her family even adopted me for the evening when they found out I was in LA alone! I got to ride in the cargo bay of their SUV! (Don't pretend you've never wanted to do this.) And watch out for Jay Ben Markson and Beau Henson's Vaudeville Explosion, coming soon to a VFW near you. It's kinda like The Prestige, but with more fingers.
Secondly, everyone listen to Harvey Dent: You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain. Manohman, did the internet hate me and my blue sweater. Also, if you have the brilliant idea to live tweet what the internet is saying, don't retweet everything. Just don't. In fact, MAKE SURE you tweet more bad than good.
Next, never underestimate luck. See Final Jeopardy during my game with Chuck and Margie. Or that gotdang Classical Mash-Up category. Future contestants: always sacrifice a goat to Fortuna before your taping. She prefers older billy goats, but she's surprisingly good with kids.
Finally, I wish I had gotten plugged into the whole J! community before I went to tape. Even aside from assisting in gameplay, it would have made what was already a lifetime experience all that much richer. And, like I said, I'd feel a little less silly trying to blog something new for a whole bunch of people far more seasoned than I am. So I hope this was at least fun to read, if not all that rich in content. You want to hear an interesting etymology story? I've got a ton of those!
Oh, ok. Cool. Maybe next time. Wait, where're you going...?
4 comments:
Hi Beau. Don't worry. You were on Jeopardy! That puts you leagues of ahead of 99% of potential internet critics.
Blue shirt? I did not notice. Clearly I don't watch the show for the same reasons the haters do.
As for Harvey Dent, if flipping a coin is good enough for Two-Face, who's to say that you should work probability on a Daily Double anyhow? Chance is unbiased, impartial, fair. Good job.
I have to admit that I thought it was pretty funny to hear that people hated you and your sweater. I don't remember the sweater, but are you going to burn it or frame it?
Thanks for the post, Beau!
Hey Beau, congratulations on your wins! Dunno if you are reading and replying to posts here but Jeanie & Catie both said they had trouble with the signalling device in spite of knowing the answers. What was your trick with the buzzer?
Thanks, y'all! Clinton, my first game was against Chuck the surgeon, whose thumbs were like lightning. The only way I could ever hope to get in was to figure out the EXACT moment when the "buzzer-opener" (is there a lingo for this fella?) opened the buzzers. That's why I barely got called on until after the first commercial break.
I was able to carry that timing through the other games until it became TOO automatic and I lost focus and started buzzing in on accident my last game!
Also, if you're having buzzer trouble, one of the handlers or the casting director will come over during a break and give you a tutorial (which is actually a relaxation exercise in disguise). So much happens behind the scenes!