Since I know that a bunch of people tried out during the first contestant search last fall, and the current search is going on now, I thought I would share my impressions from my tryout today. I went to the studio in a group of about 15-20 guys (there were 3 groups today and we were only the second day of tryouts with a bunch more to come), and as before they were all men between early 20s-45 (no women). I had heard that last time, most contestants were from the NYC area. In my group were people who drove from Columbus OH, Altoona and Watertown NY, as well as folks who flew in from some small town in Michigan, two from Boston, and from Spokane (!!!) The tryout consists of a twenty question written test covering a wide range of sports. You get twelve minutes to answer the questions. (Knowing my tendency to overthink easy questions, I finished quickly in about 4, but most people took about 10 minutes). The producers graded the test and announced that seven of us would stay around for the next stage. (they don't give you the corrct answers or tell you your score). At this point, they called us in one at a time to a room where they simulate the actual studio by having 3 producers sitting at a table, you are facing them in a chair, and they have a bright light shining in your eyes. They ask about some of the things I put on my bio (before the first test you fill out a 2 page info sheet): where I'm from, what my special category is, why I wanted to be on the show, etc. Then they run you through a "1 minute drill" (similar to the 2nd round of the game, with questions coming rapid fire from all panelists). Afterwards, they thank you and you leave. They did make a number of changes in the format of the game: -Used to be a 3 player game, with one eliminated after the first round; now its a 2 player game (so no one is eliminated after the first round) -Players must allow the panelist to read the _entire_ question before answering; so you can't interrupt at all -All name answers must include both first and last name (supposedly Kenny Mayne will prompt, if you don't) -The tournament will have 32 players in 16 matches -Wildcard advancement has been eliminated (since they have 32 teams...) -1&2 round matches will be made by random draw; after that they will seed -The champion of the previous tournament will be given an invite; so Willy Gibson will be back -They indicated that they will call all contestants by/around May 7 (taping from May 14-22); they also said they will contact all potential contestants who were not selected My impressions of my experience: -The contestant search producers are young. I think they are about my age, (ie 23-25) -I didn't mention my quiz bowl experience or the GoldPocket contest; I decided to spend my limited words on other stuff (don't know whether that is good or bad in the long term) -The neatest part of my experience was nearly running into (quite literally) LL Cool J coming around a corner outside the Golden Books Building (yes those Golden Books) across the street from the Hard Rock Cafe on West 57th. That was one thing I didn't plan on happening. -The production offices are located right above the BMW of Manhattan dealership. They have a great collection of BMW bikes and some BMW merchandise (I can't figure out why the BMW Williams F1 Jensen Button hat still costs the same as the Ralf Schumacher one) -The NY Auto Show is going on until April 22 at the Javits Center ($9 admission). It is amazing. They have all sorts of neat stuff, ranging from the standard new model displays and exotic prototypes to an exhibit of famous racing cars (closed when I was there). But I did get to see Mark Donohue's 1973 Can-Am Porsche 917, JJ Lehto's 1999 BMW that won LeMans, the Cadillac LMP prototype, some incredible Saleen and Panoz sportscars and the Batmobile.
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