After broadcasting in several formats as far back as 1964, the modern version of “Jeopardy!” has been beamed to the television sets of trivia lovers across the country five days a week since 1984. That’s when iconic former host Alex Trebek took the podium.
And Western Pennsylvania has a storied history of residents who have appeared on the game show for four decades.
“ ‘Jeopardy!’ is really the king of game shows,” said Daniel Moore, 34, of Pittsburgh’s Brighton Heights neighborhood. Moore has made four appearances on the general knowledge trivia program from July 14-18, 2023, and once on Jan. 22, 2024, as part of the Champion Wildcard.
In September 1986, current Westwood resident Pat Howe, 72, decided to take a shot at getting on the show.
“We’re old enough to be fans back in the Art Fleming days,” she said, referring to the host who helmed the numerous “Jeopardy!” versions that came before. “There was an announcement on TV that they were coming to Pittsburgh to do a contestant search, and I went down to the convention center. … They had a big room filled with people taking the test. It was a handwritten general knowledge test.”
She recalled that potential players had to get 75% or more of the questions correct to move on to the second round, and then on to a brief interview and practice game. Afterward, the prospective competitors were sent home, uncertain of their futures.
“I got a call probably in October. They called me at home and said, ‘You want to come?’ And I just, without even thinking, I said, ‘Of course, I want to come,’ ” Howe said.
She traveled to Los Angeles in mid-November 1986, and her episodes of “Jeopardy!” aired in March 1987, a typical time gap for the syndicated show. Howe — like many other contestants — said the waiting was the hardest part.
“I only brought my husband (to the taping), and then we had to not talk to anyone about it,” said Dorcas Alexander, 63, of Bethel Park, who appeared on the show Sept. 19, 2016. “But, you know, my co-workers were teasing me, ‘Oh, I bet you won a lot of money.’ … I had to just rotely say, ‘You’ll have to watch and see.’ ”
Victoria Groce, 43, of Point Breeze has appeared on “Jeopardy!” numerous times, competing as recently as 2024 in tournaments. Her first appearance was in 2005, and her experience with the process was similar to Howe’s. At the time of her application, she was a 23-year-old new mother planning a move to Pittsburgh from Georgia.
“I was on maternity leave from my job, and one of my friends emails me and said, ‘Hey, ‘Jeopardy!’ is doing auditions in Atlanta, you should try out,’ ” she said.
Only half a dozen people moved on to a mock game round from about 100 test-takers, she said.
“Basically, they’re trying to get an idea of what would this person be like on television? Are they personable? Can they follow instructions? Because at that point, they know you know the stuff,” she said.
A little more than a decade later when Alexander tried out, she started with an online test and then went for an in-person audition in Washington, D.C.
“You had to take a written test so they made sure you didn’t cheat on the online test. … You had like eight seconds or something to answer each question.”
In 2021, when Moore decided to give the online test a go, the several rounds of his audition process were digital, including a Zoom interview.
“About a year later — actually it was a year and change — I’m at work and I get a call. And it happens to be the producer from ‘Jeopardy!’ saying that they wanted me on the show.”
In more recent years, selected players have started rigorous preparations for their games.
Elizabeth Quesnelle, 50, of Lawrenceville was on two episodes that aired Dec. 21 and 22, 2015. She said she used J! Archive — a site that aggregates all of the questions and contestants from past games of “Jeopardy!” — to bone up on categories such as Shakespeare and opera that weren’t her strong suits but show up a lot on the program.
Connellsville native Lindsey Shultz, 42, who appeared on five regular episodes and two Tournament of Champions episodes in 2019, said, “When it comes to sports, I’m like, if you are hockey and somehow related to the Penguins, I could answer the question … there’s some stuff that it’s like, ‘Siri, how do you learn all of sports in a month?’ ”
Matt Phillips, 55, of Munhall, whose episode aired June 20, 2008, was glad he studied before venturing to Culver City, Calif.
“I remember I reviewed the flags of all the different nations so I would know what they would look like. Fortunately, that helped, because I did get a question about the Swedish flag,” he said.
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But preparation can only go so far, he said.
“One of my categories was sumo wrestling, and that is nothing I would have ever thought in a million years to prepare for.”
Sometimes the subjects play to another contestant’s strengths.
“I was up against a college professor and a minister. … One of the categories was the Bible, and the minister got the ‘Daily Double’ on that. So, I’m going to say God was on his side on that one,” Phillips said.
Quesnelle and Moore also talked about using a pen to simulate the signaling device players use to ring in so they could practice their timing.
Most of the contestants don’t recall being nervous once they were behind their podiums.
“They do a great job of making you forget you’re on television. The cameras are stationary and they’re kind of out of eyesight, so you don’t really notice that they’re there,” Quesnelle said.
Still, almost everyone has questions they remember getting right — or wrong. For Howe, it was a “Daily Double” in her second game. She bet big on art — one of her best subjects — but just couldn’t conjure the right question to go with the clue “A ‘gisant’ is a recumbent sculpture of a person in this condition.”
(The correct response, as she still vividly remembers: “What is dead?”).
Alexander regrets the mental mix-up during her game’s “Final Jeopardy!” when she confused two authors.
“The answer was Jack Kerouac, and actually that answer ran through my head. And I immediately dismissed it because I mixed him up with Jack London, and I thought, ‘Oh no, it can’t be Jack Kerouac because he wrote those books about dogs in the Northwest.’ ”
Shultz worried that she disappointed her alma mater.
“I missed a question that was related to Scotland, and when the CMU magazine profiled me, they were like, ‘huh,’ ” she said.
Alex Trebek was a pop culture legend who hosted “Jeopardy!” for 36 years, from 1984 until his death from pancreatic cancer in 2020. After the covid-19 pandemic and an extended behind-the-scenes succession drama, “Jeopardy!” champion Ken Jennings became his permanent replacement in 2023.
While both hosts have big personalities, the contestants likely have little more insight into them than viewers — there isn’t much interaction between the host and players outside of the game.
“It’s just to keep everything on the level, you really aren’t allowed to talk to Alex unless Alex talks to you. And in the break, when they filmed that bit where they come and they talk to the contestants to get to know them, that’s when you get your picture taken. That was one of your parting gifts,” Phillips said.
He posts the photo of the two together on his Facebook page every year on the anniversary of his show’s taping.
Quesnelle was on the show just after Trebek returned from hip surgery.
“He was extremely professional, extremely pleasant,” she said.
Despite the lack of one-on-one interaction, the local contestants from throughout the years agreed that both hosts are friendly, funny and professional. Groce had the rare opportunity to play in games hosted by both Trebek and Jennings.
“Alex Trebek was very nice and lovely. I remember that his birthday hit on the day of the taping, so one of the contestants had actually brought a birthday card that everybody signed, which he seemed nice and appreciative about,” she said.
As for Jennings?
“He’s really interesting to watch up close. … I think one of the coolest things about watching Ken in action is just, (the) dude works so hard.”
She added, “Ken just has a certain level of empathy for the contestants because he’s been there.”
All seven contestants spoke fondly of their time on the show, even praising the other players and the “Jeopardy!” community at large.
Moore is a lifelong “Jeopardy!” fan, but he also stands apart from the average player in that he doesn’t have a college degree. “You go up on something like ‘Jeopardy!’ and it’s all about what you actually know,” he said.
“Everybody’s still in competitive mode, but everybody gets along so much that you don’t get too upset. … It’s the whole atmosphere of the show and of the competition, from the fellow contestants to the crew, anything. It’s a nice experience,” he said.
For some, like Phillips, the experience was bittersweet.
“I was very proud that I was able to get on there. It’s probably one of the biggest accomplishments of my life, I guess. But it broke my heart that I lost,” he said.
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Howe enjoyed her time on the show, and she also enjoys having a fun anecdote to pull out whenever she meets someone new.
“It’s one of those claims to fame that doesn’t go away. It’ll be in my obituary,” she said.