Tonight’s guest-blogger: Beau Henson. Yes, the man himself. Tomorrow night, a little bit more from me. Monday: Ruth Robbins, who played Beau today and whom he mentions below!
(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…?