When they first announced that they'd be doing a special tournament, I honestly wasn't even thinking much about it. It was right around the time our baby was born, and work was really busy at the time, and I figured I wouldn't be that high on their list of potential invitees anyway. But when they decided to invite all the previous ToC winners, it started to get real.
With the level of competition in this tournament, I didn't think I'd have much of a shot -- I was nowhere near "playing shape" and every person in the field was an all-time great. I got pretty---ok, really---lucky to beat Larissa in my first round game. That, of course, was fantastic, but the whole experience of spending a few days with the great champions of the 2000s --- every one of them friendly, interesting, wonderful people --- would have been more than enough for me to call this a fantastic experience. I laughed so much with that group and made some new friends that I know I'll cross paths with again.
I didn't figure the tournament round would be as much fun...we had work to do, after all! But again, everyone was an absolute pleasure. That they had a film crew following us around and making a mini-documentary about the tournament was a fun taste of being a "celebrity" without the unseemly paparazzi and phone-hacking. And the tournament itself lived up to its billing and more: what a treat just to be in the studio to watch it in person, let alone be playing in it!
Then, the wrap party was just icing on the cake. They decked out the Wheel of Fortune studio in true Hollywood excess, with pink- and purple-hued neon lights and similarly colored drinks at the open bar. Alex, Harry Friedman (the exec producer), and the rest of the show's staff seemed honestly thrilled at how the tournament went, and it was yet another surreal thing to have the opportunity to be part of.
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| At the wrap party on the Wheel of Fortune set. |
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| Andrea and me with the incomparable Johnny Gilbert (age 89 at the time, now 90) |
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| With Ken Jennings, along with nice photobombs by Ed Toutant and Sarah from the Clue Crew. |
Speaking of the show's staff and crew: it was great to see that almost the entire group was still there from when I had last been at the studio 10 years prior, from the contestant coordinators to the camera crew to even some of the ushers. I think this is the biggest testament to how well they must treat people, and how much of a "Jeopardy! family" there is.
Finally, the advent of social media provided a fun additional flavor to the whole process this time around. It was much easier to let a lot of people know that the tournament was happening, of course -- we were able to organize some pretty great viewing parties here in Fort Collins -- but it's bigger than that. Being able to keep in touch with the other contestants, and amicably talk trash when the shows aired, was a lot of fun. Using twitter to dig up the nasty things people say about J! contestants was also, um, "fun."
But seriously, I think the coolest thing was that many of my friends from high school and college now have kids of their own who are old enough to watch the show and enjoy it, and seeing the messages and pictures and videos of their kids glued to a quiz show to cheer me on meant so much. And now during reruns our son (now 13 months old) is at least recognizing the "Think!" music, and also getting a respectable $13K Coryat. ;)
So a huge thanks to the J! powers that be, all the other contestants that I met during the tournament, all of my friends and family, for a few months that I'll never forget. See you all in the 35th or 40th anniversary tournament?
