Rivka
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Posts posted by Rivka
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That was enjoyable, Rivka. You did so well.
I loved the chatting part when you told Alex that you teach Middle School kids sex ed. That was quite a long pause on his part. You recovered it well. :laugh:
So, the contestant coordinators help you generate a long list of things Alex can ask you about. Before your episode they work with you to pick three options and they write them on a card. They star the one you hope Alex will ask about, but he can ask about any of them. Which means that he CHOSE to ask me about teaching sex ed! It's not my fault! :lol:
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Way to go, Rivka!
Was there a real studio audience? How do they keep the audience from spilling the beans about questions and winners?
There is a studio audience. Both mornings that I taped, the audience was mostly middle school kids on a field trip. The afternoon taping had a bunch of older women on a bus tour. And contestants are allowed to bring family members and friends, so there's a section for them.
I assume the audience signs something, but I think mostly Jeopardy relies on them not caring that much.
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When you did the online test, did you get the results back?
Nope. You never know how you did on the online test or on the written test at the audition. Presumably they don't want to argue with people about their scores.
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Does that mean you taped at least those days or only those days... ;)
Was Alex nice/personable outside of the cameras rolling?
Every moment of interaction I had with Alex was what you see on camera. Because he's the only person who has advance access to the questions, he doesn't even come within 10 feet of contestants when the cameras aren't rolling.
During the commercial breaks, he takes questions from the audience and banters with them. He seems really personable based on that.
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When you go to film, do you get to tell people where and why you are going away?
Oh yeah. I crowdsourced my outfit options on Facebook. Once I got to the studio, though, they were very serious about making us turn our phones off. Not just silenced, off.
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So were you allowed to tell friends right before the airing so they knew to watch or can you not say anything to anyone?
You're allowed - and even encouraged - to tell everyone you know that you're going to be on the show. The Jeopardy people even sent me my publicity photo with Alex a few weeks in advance so I could post it on social media. You're allowed to talk about the audition, the tape day experience, etc.
You are NOT allowed to say anything about questions, categories, interview segments, or game outcomes.
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Thanks for the reminder. I went looking and it's not posted online yet. I'll have to check back later.
Rivka, How long was there between the taping and when it aired on TV? Meaning, how long did you have to sit on this news before you could tell people? I'm supposing they don't write you a check when you leave so how long do you have to wait to get your winnings?
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5ff1ij
I taped December 6-7, so I have been sitting on this news for THREE MONTHS. I told my husband but no one else.
They mail out the check 90 days after the show airs, so I'll be waiting for a while. But we bought a hot tub anyway.
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Rivka, DH wants to know how many times did you audition before you were called? He's done it 4 times and hasn't been called. Rats! He said a contestant last year auditioned 16 times before being called.
Maybe he doesn't want to know: I took the online test once and auditioned once, and then I got the call.
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Awesome, Rivka!
I got a little nervous when the lawyer went ahead with her Daily Double, but you just keep knocking down those questions! And it was great that you bet so much for the Final.
You looked so confident and you have such a beautiful smile!
:hurray:
Thank you! Holly was incredibly smart - a very tough competitor. Fortunately, Grant was playing his fourth game of the day, and he was tired.
I had to bet that much for Final Jeopardy. If Holly bet everything and got the question right, she would have had $30,000. I bet enough so that if we were both right, I would still win even if her score doubled.
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Since you obviously made it to the next show which is aired next week, I take it your taping occurred on more than one day. Do they put you up in a hotel or do you have to provide your own arrangements? Do they tell you how many days to plan to be in the area (since some people will be there for taping more than one day)? Just thinking about people who have to take off of work but you don't know in advance how many days you will need for taping. I'm thinking like Ken, did he just take off of work for weeks on end to tape all those shows. I'm finding the logistics of how they run the show to be quite interesting.
Contestants pay for all their own travel expenses - but even third place comes with $1000, so most people don't wind up actually out-of-pocket in the end. They have two hotels they recommend - they send a shuttle to those hotels to pick people up in the morning - but I guess you could stay anywhere if you're willing to arrange your own transportation.
The taping days are Tuesday and Wednesday. They told us we should plan our trip so we'd be available on both days - I flew our on Monday and took the redeye flight home on Wednesday. If you're still winning at the end of the second day, you have to come out again for the next taping days. (If so, the production company pays for your flight.) If I had lost on my first taping day, I would have had a day to sightsee in LA.
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And I learned a new strategy. When you're behind, go right for the high dollar questions. When you are ahead, go for the lower ones so that an opponent won't gain too much if they buzz in first.
This may have been obvious to the rest of you, but I am an irregular viewer and just caught it.
Well done, rivka!
The actual game went so fast that I didn't have any time whatsoever to analyze the other players' strategies, but you're right - Holly used that technique really effectively in our game. She was soooo smart, and such a fierce competitor!
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We want to know how you got on there in the first place. I can't wait to watch your return episode, hopefully someone can post it here
If you sign up at jeopardy.com, they will notify you when they next schedule an online test. The online test displays questions every 15 seconds - you type in your response. It doesn't have to be in the form of a question. About 70,000 people take the online test every year.
There is a cutoff score for the online test. They won't say exactly what it is, but there's widespread speculation that it's 35/50. If your score is above that, you may be randomly selected to audition in person. They travel to various cities to run auditions - mine was in Washington DC. About 3,000 people are invited to audition.
At the audition, you take another, in-person test - presumably, in case you had someone else take the online test for you. You also play a short mock game against your fellow auditioners, using a real buzzer, and you have a short "personality interview." There's a written application too, which has things like "five interesting facts that Alex could ask you about on the show." Then you go home. You may or may not be added to the contestant pool - no one will tell you whether you've made it into the pool. You just wait by the phone for the next 18 months, and then if you weren't selected you can start over again with the online test.
About 400 people per year get "the call" and are invited to be on the show. Almost exactly 7 months passed between my audition and the call, but I talked to some people who were called almost immediately and others who waited more than a year.
The whole process was actually really fun. Just auditioning was a great experience.
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So do you have to bring 4 changes of clothes because you don't know if you are taping 1 episode or 5 that day? If so that is a serious amount of wardrobe that the contestants have to store there for the day.
Yes, we were told to bring three changes of clothes to the studio, so everyone had a suitcase or a garment bag on the shuttle in the morning. There was a dressing room in the corner of the contestants' green room for the champion to change in. I guess if you play more than three games they figure people will forget what you wore.
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My dd wants to know if you have cats.
My dh wants to know if you had been on previous show, would they have still used Baltimore category?
I'm allergic to cats. Instead I have an extremely greedy but sweet beagle.
Yes, they would have still used the Baltimore category, which is why it was so frustrating to miss it!
Here's how it works: for every taping day, the clue writers prepare six complete games. Only five will be used. Very early in the morning on the taping day, a lawyer from an outside compliance company comes in and chooses which five games will be used, in which order. There are twelve contestants ready to play each day, but only ten of them will - two get held over until the next day. Right before each match, the contestant coordinators draw two names from a hat and those become the next two challengers. So no one knows the matchup of which contestants will play which game until immediately before the show. The clue writers and the compliance company lawyer don't know anything at all about the contestants, and the contestant coordinators don't ever get anywhere near the game clues.
It's all very complicated, but it's designed to prevent either the possibility or the appearance of cheating.
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Now you know once you are a presence on WTM, nothing is private anymore.
Did CBT work with nervousness or are you just naturally a cool cucumber?
Well, I take Prozac for anxiety and have for years, but it doesn't help with situations that are legitimately anxiety-provoking. I was nervous earlier in the day, but by the time my turn came up I was strangely calm.
They tape a week's worth of shows in a single day, so I was at the studio from early morning - first getting oriented, practicing, getting makeup, etc., and then in the audience watching the games with the other contestants. You don't know it's going to be your turn until about 10 minutes before your episode starts - you have just enough time to have your makeup touched up. By the time I went on I had been keyed up and ready to play for about seven hours, so I was TIRED. That probably helped me be calmer.
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Fantastic! You did so well!
I only watch when someone I know is on (including a friend from grad school, who won enough for the down payment on a CA house (!) ), so I'm not familiar with what categories are typical, but I was thinking it was perfect for a WTM-er – Roman deities, women's history, books, etc. :)
I'm curious when you can buzz in – it seems the light by each person's name goes on only after Alex is done reading the question, but obviously sometimes you know the answer right away. Do you buzz in as soon as you think you know the answer, and the light goes on later for the first person who buzzes in?
Actually, when the Double Jeopardy categories came up I almost wet my pants, because it looked like they were all going to be about movies and I know almost nothing about movies. Fortunately most of the categories turned out to really have another theme! But yes, categories are totally the luck of the draw. The episode before mine had a category about Baltimore, which is the city where I live. I was sitting in the audience quietly swearing because I missed it by ONE episode!
About buzzing in - see my reply to okbud. All of the contestants are reading the clue silently faster than Alex can read it aloud, and coming up with their answer. But you can't buzz in until he finishes reading the question. You have to time it very precisely.
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You did so good in the interview portion!
Was the clicker hard to click?
Ha, thank you, people elsewhere online are tearing me to shreds for the interview, so that's nice to hear.
The tricky part is getting the clicker timing EXACTLY right. Most people who get on Jeopardy know the answers to most of the questions, so who wins depends on who buzzes in first.
There are lights alongside the clue board that the TV audience can't see. The lights come on when you're allowed to buzz in - it's pretty much just as the last syllable of the clue leaves Alex Trebek's mouth. If you buzz in too early you get locked out for 1/4 second, which is an eternity in Jeopardy time.
Because timing can be slightly off or something else can go wrong, they teach you to buzz in by repeatedly clicking the button. If your kids ever drive you crazy by clicking a pen top? It's just like that. They even gave us Jeopardy pens to practice with. :lol:
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Oh wow, y'all, this is SO NICE to read! Thanks for the cheers and good wishes! It was quite an intense and emotional experience, as you might imagine.
Happy to answer any questions you (or your kids) might have about the process. The only thing I can't discuss is what happens in games to come.
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Oh my word. A child may not be sad publicly. They may not have privacy. They must be forced to share their innermost thoughts and feelings are be in trouble, because they need to learn that Mom & Dad will be cruel to them until they tell them their secrets. And then once they tell their secrets they must be prepared to be punished for them if they're out of line. Because after all the CHILD is arrogant for wanting to feel sad and have space. Holy moly, I don't even... that breaks my heart. TELL ME WHAT'S WRONG AND TRUST ME WITH YOUR INNERMOST THOUGHTS OR I WILL HURT YOU sure seems like *fantastic* parenting, and a great precedent to set for future relationships! [/sarc]
Put that together with the "tomato staking" concept and it gets even creepier. "Usually my younger children are all within eyesight and earshot of me in the same room, even if they are behaving well. Right now, my five youngest, preschoolers to preteens, are just around the corner from me. I know exactly what they are doing, and I can clearly hear them talking and interacting." "In this kind of staking, you do NOT send children to the bedroom to play where you can't see or hear them, relying on occasional checks to monitor behavior. When they are outside, you are with them, or able to see and hear them. You do not pack them off to the neighbors or elsewhere for an hour or two to play without your personal supervision. You do not sign them up for group activities that do not include your parental participation."
So the child is not allowed to be sad in front of mom without explaining AND the child is not allowed to go off and be sad in her own room or outside. Children should be constantly under the eye of the parent and also constantly held accountable for having only approved thoughts and feelings.
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Did you know that you can paddle a child out of having ADHD?
See, I'm a child psychologist, and *I* didn't know that, but apparently my professional education has been deficient.
Elizabeth: First, you must seat this child right next to you while you are schooling, not across the table. Lay your paddle on the table between you and he as a visual aid. Begin like this:
Mom: Do you see this paddle?
Child: Yes.
Mom: I'm tired of reminding you not to touch, fidget, wiggle, or to rock in your chair. From now on, I'm going to use the paddle to help you remember. Do you understand me?
Child: Yes Mom.
Mom: What are some of the things I'm always telling you not to do?
Child: Playing with my eraser?
Mom: Yes. What else?
Child: Getting off my chair?
Mom: Yes. What else?
Child: Scribbling instead of doing my math?
Mom: Yes, and I'm sure you can think of a lot of other things, so I'm not going to remind you. I'm just going to use the paddle. Do you understand me?
Child: Yes.
(Two minutes later child begins rocking in his chair.)
Mom: Get up and put your hands on the table. (SWAT!) Now sit back down and go back to your work.
(Three minutes later child begins to poke his pencil through his buttonhole.)
Mom: Get up and put your hands on the table. (SWAT!) Sit down and start working.
(Five minutes later child begins tapping the table leg with his foot.)
Mom: Get up and put your hands on the table. (SWAT! SWAT!) Sit down and work.
As soon as he realizes that he controls whether or not he gets a swat, he will start improving. If he laughs, or exhibits a bad attitude, apply an "I Mean Business" spanking. Remember, this will not work if you are not being very consistent, so you MUST train yourself to notice every little thing. Decide what degree of fidgeting is acceptable, taking into consideration the personality of your child, then correct for everything that is excessive. He is probably not even aware of his excessive movements and he needs you to bring them to his attention, and insist he control them.-
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What!? That's like... that's like the Taming of the Shrew! That's from the book? Wow.
Sadly, yes. Here's the link: http://www.raisinggodlytomatoes.com/ch12.php
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For some reason, this bit is particularly giving me chills:
For example, if we're discussing plans for him to learn Spanish, he'll pop up with, "No, I want to learn Chinese." Or I'll say, "Take that toy off your head," and he'll say, "But I like it on my head." Recently, he heard me talking with a friend about the leaves falling early this year, and he interjected, "I don't see a single leaf." He's not obviously cocky or belligerent. Instead, he seems cheery and good-natured, but this behavior is progressing into a habit that goes beyond what I think is acceptable.
Elizabeth: Venturing from good-natured opinion into deliberate opposition is being "contrary", the first step toward becoming "argumentative". Again, this stems from arrogance on his part. He thinks his opinion should count for as much as yours and is intent upon proving it to you. So nip this in the bud to head off what will only degenerate. Whenever he exhibits his contrary mode, stop him and offer an appropriate model and insist he follow it. For example:
Mom: I really like it when the curtains are open and the sun shines in.
Contrary child: (with a smile) I like it better when it's dark in here.
Mom: Son, that is a foolish statement. Say: "I agree Mom, the sun is very nice shining in here".
Child: But Mom, I....
Mom: (in a 'no joking' voice) Say what I told you to say NOW and don't say anything else.
Child: I agree Mom, the sun is very nice shining in here.
Mom: That's better; now don't do that again.-
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2nd grade plans:
Finish SOTW 1 and start SOTW2
Tag along with world geography (big sister's doing BYL 7)
RSO Chemistry
WWE 2
Shelf of 16 Mom-chosen chapter books he's expected to read sometime during 2nd grade
AAS 1 and 2
Finish MEP2
Start Beast Academy 3
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We start June 1st! I can't believe I have a middle schooler.
This is the shortest list I've ever posted, because for the first time ever I'm going with a boxed curriculum. It feels SO WEIRD. But (a) it looks so amazing! and (b) I am very conscious of how much I've fallen down on the job this year with homeschooling. We've consistently done reading, writing, and math, but beyond that I have really let things slide. Time for a more laid-out-for-us schedule.
Alex will be doing:
Build Your Library 7 (social studies, language arts, literature, art, reading, Elemental Science Chemistry for the Logic Stage)
Possibly supplement ES Chemistry with The Joy of Chemistry
Finish up Jacobs, Mathematics: A Human Endeavor
Finish up ACT algebra (Life and Times of Chuckles the Rocket Dog)
Begin AOPS Algebra
That's it. BYL and math. It feels so weiiiird.
Is anyone watching Jeopardy right now?
in The Chat Board
Posted
i spoke at a homeschooling conference this weekend and had a vendor table. THREE different people recognized me from Jeopardy, and one of them asked to have her picture taken with me! It was ridiculously fun.