Making it onto “College Jeopardy!” was already a surprise for Cliff Galiher, but he soon found himself in even more unfamiliar territory.
“We were shacked up at USC in the women’s basketball team locker room as our green room,” the second-year history student said. “It was good accommodations, but it was somewhere I honestly never thought I’d be.”
Galiher beat out a thousand other UCLA students for the right to represent the school for the 2007 “Jeopardy! College Championship.” His first episode airs tonight.
“It was always something I wanted to do in the distant future, once I graduated from college and had the maximum amount of knowledge before it started all leaking out of my brain,” Galiher said. “I didn’t think I’d be in the college tournament.”
The annual “College Jeopardy!” tournament was shot over two days at USC and brought together 15 students from around the nation, representing schools ranging from Harvard to Georgia Tech.
Eleven of the 15 students were selected after taking an online test and making it through a rigorous selection process. Two of the students were picked up through an academic college bowl in Chicago, and the last two were from UCLA and USC.
“Knowing that USC would be our host school, it was important to find someone from their rival,” said Maggie Speak, contestant executive for “Jeopardy!”
To ensure a UCLA student was on the show, “Jeopardy!” set up a Brain Bus event in Ackerman Grand Ballroom. The Brain Bus also visited USC in order to pick a Trojan representative.
“I found out about it a couple days before and didn’t think I would do it,” Galiher said. “Then a couple of my friends called me and talked me into cutting out of class early to try out.”
A thousand UCLA hopefuls showed up for an opportunity to appear on the show. A pre-test was administered and those who passed were invited back for a longer, 50-question test. After that, the remaining hopefuls did a short personality test and competed in a mock “Jeopardy!,” complete with a game board and buzzers. From there, the final contestant was chosen to compete on the televised show.
“I think people that watch the shows are going to be impressed by the college students that we’ve got,” Speak said.
For simply appearing on the show, contestants earn a minimum of $5,000. Semifinalists get $10,000 and the three finalists earn a minimum of $25,000, $50,000 and $100,000, respectively.
“When I got there and I realized how genuinely competent these people were, how canny these people were, I started to disparage my chances,” Galiher said. “Every one of these contestants, under slightly different circumstances, could easily have won this. It really can be luck of the draw.”
To prepare for the show, Galiher looked up old college Jeopardy! questions to get a feel for the breadth of the categories. However, success on the show is not always dependent on knowledge; contestants are at the mercy of the topics they receive during their round.
He has two self-admitted weaknesses ““ popular music and sports ““ and managed to avoid one of them, but found that the areas he assumed to be strengths were not as easily won as he hoped.
Galiher did well in science, but was beaten to the buzzer on questions regarding U.S. history. He was also able to capitalize on his knowledge as a film enthusiast.
As a member of the College Bowl team, Galiher is used to the mental quickness required, but he also drew upon some unlikely sources of knowledge.
“A lot of things I learn in truly the most random ways,” Galiher said. “An episode of “˜The Simpsons’ can teach me something about Henry VIII. It’s really everywhere.”
Of course being on the show also meant meeting game show hero and “Jeopardy!” host, Alex Trebek.
“He is definitely very smart, very witty and composed. He really engages with you,” Galiher said.
“We didn’t have a lot of face time, but he was still very personable and accessible.”
While sometimes it may appear that the questions on the show should be easily answered, Galiher has a new, humbled perspective on the assumed ease of participation.
“When you’re watching at home you can shout out the answer and not be afraid of being beaten to the buzzer.
“If I get something wrong, I just move on. When you’re playing the game, you can be very afraid to buzz in, and when you do buzz in and do get it wrong, it stings,” Galiher said,
“It’s very different watching the show than playing it, I can tell you that.”