By: Isaac Linsk, Follow South Jersey Intern
GLASSBORO, N.J. – Rowan University Professor Melissa Klapper is set to appear for the fifth time on an episode of the popular trivia competition show Jeopardy! However, this time Klapper will be appearing on the quarter finals of the esteemed Tournament of Champions. Klapper’s appearance will be the result of a potentially years-long process that contestants endure in order to gain a spot behind one of the famous buzzers.
For Klapper, that process started during the heat of the pandemic. After completing a series of preliminary knowledge tests and going through with a Zoom interview that has served as the show’s casting call since 2020, Klapper was entered into a pool of contestants that the show’s producers would pick from. A contestant’s eligibility in the pool ends after a period of 18 months regardless of whether or not a producer contacts you.
Klapper’s initial eligibility ended in June of 2022. Nevertheless, the professor of history restarted the entire process the day after her previous eligibility expired. By September she was eligible to be on the show again, and by December the show’s producers had given her a call.
What viewers of the longtime trivia show might not realize is that almost all of a weeks episodes are shot in a single day, meaning that most of the winning streaks like Klapper’s took place over a single afternoon.
“Basically you win a game, they usher you off stage , you get a drink and change your shirt and then you’re back on stage in ten minutes,” said Klapper about the process of appearing on the show.
Kappler went on to become a three-time Jeopardy! champion from March 20-22, 2023, with a total winning of $60,100. Read that story here.
Klapper’s appearance was notable in that she was only one of two women who were able to win more than 3 games in all of last year’s season. Her appearance on the tournament of champions was not expected. The Rowan professor had thought she might appear on the newer Champions Wildcard Tournament which features winners with a game streak of up to 3.
The show’s scheduling had a hurdle to go through before any of the trivia champions could be declared: the 2023 writers strike.
“This current season that we’re in, which started in September, was very affected by the writer’s strike at Hollywood,” said Klapper on the logistics of her upcoming appearance on the show. “The Jeopardy! writers are members of the Writers Guild of America, and they were out on their strike at Labor Action, like all the other writers, and it really changed the way the season proceeded. So long story short, I knew I was kind of on the bubble for possibly getting invited back, but this past December is when I found out that they were going to invite all the three-time winners. There were eight of us, all the three-time champions from last season would go straight to the tournament of champions and not do the sort of interim tournaments.”
While some home-viewers of the popular game show might only enjoy testing their knowledge as the contestants pull up questions. Those competing have taken to different strategies in order to give themselves a competitive advantage. Buzzer speed is almost as important as your knowledge of the subjects in today’s games.
“The strategy is completely different now, it’s much more gamified, everyone goes daily double hunting, which has an impact on which kinds of clues or what categories you might choose. For instance, if there’s a category that you like that you’re doing well at, but the bottom three levels don’t have a daily double, the strategy advice is to go out of that category. Even if you know you’re going to do well on it and go look for the daily double and you need to bet big on the daily doubles because most people get their advantages that way. And so it’s a very different kind of strategy. Nowadays, people study wagering strategy for final Jeopardy,” said Klapper.
Currently on sabbatical in order to write a new book on American Jewish Women, the Rowan professor was able to study and prepare for up to two hours a day for her appearance on the tournament of champions.
Klapper isn’t allowed to reveal any of the results of her time on the Tournament of Champions, but you can watch her performance this coming Monday, March 4. She will be competing against Ray Lalonde and Ike Barinholtz.
If you’re interested in reading some of Klapper’s work before her next book is completed, you can check out : Ballet Class: An American History today.
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