Speaking from personal experience:
As some
of you probably know, Adam Fine and I were
contestants (and, therefore, competitors) on the same WWTBAM
episode. While not lifelong friends, Adam and I would
certainly count as acquaintances (and any attempt to hide
that would have failed since we both had Guy Jordan on
our phone-a-friend list). Neither of us knew that the
other had put in for the same tape date, and given the
large number of quiz bowlers who try out, it's
extremely unlikely that there wouldn't be several
"acquaintances" from our community trying out for the same tape
date.
Anyway, Standards and Practices talked to Adam and me
about we knew each other (and Guy), but gave us no
trouble, and we were both allowed on. Of course, we were
on over a year ago, and I'm not sure when that rule
officially appeared.
--Rick