The Answer: Katie Oliver
The question: What CHS graduate recently appeared on “Jeopardy?”
From the time she was five years old, Katie Oliver said, she dreamed of being a contestant on “Jeopardy.” The Caroline native and graduate of Caroline High School got her wish on Wednesday, Feb. 17, when her episode aired. She was ahead after the first round, but fell behind during Double Jeopardy and ultimately lost to “some tough competition.”
She said it was not due to nerves, as she felt “strangely calm, just excited and happy.”
Cheering her on from the studio audience was her mother (Vickie Perry, CHS class of 1978) but she also had plenty of supporters back in Virginia.
Just after Thanksgiving, co-workers set up a Trivial Pursuit game on a podium outside her office at Marine Base Quantico, where she is employed as an administrative professional by the Department of the Navy.
“For months,” Oliver said, “anybody who passed by could pick out a card and ask me questions.”
Her 2009 B.A. degree in history from the University of Mary Washington was another big help.
And what did she choose as her personal anecdote for the segment when the host introduces each contestant?
“I told him I enjoy amateur ghost hunting,” she said. “Alex Trebek gave me a look like I was crazy, which I’m okay with.”
This was Oliver’s third attempt to be on the long-running quiz show, including one tryout for College Jeopardy.
Currently the process begins with an online test of 50 questions. Those who answer 35 or more correctly are referred for an audition.
Oliver passed the online test in March 2015 and was notified in September that she could audition in Boston on Oct. 7. She travelled at her own expense, as required, and was finally chosen. Her episode filmed Jan. 11, 2016.
“They shoot two weeks of shows in two days,” she said. She was asked to bring extra clothes, in case she won and moved on to another episode.
“They stuck us in a room with the others,” she said, “the other contestants. They were all great. And the producers were fun, trying to make it more exciting for us.”
Oliver said that the contestant who beat her went on to win for several more days. And was she pulling for him?
“Actually, no.”
By Constance Snow / CP Editor
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