Elgin woman puts knowledge to test on “Jeopardy!”
Elisabeth Carrel, an Elgin resident who's a regular at a local trivia night, recently put her knowledge to the ultimate test — on “Jeopardy!”
Carrel is scheduled to appear on the show that airs Monday. But the show's rules prohibit her from divulging her progress, so you'll just have to watch and see for yourself.
Carrel, a former Daily Herald copy editor, is now a copy editor at Farm Progress Companies in St. Charles.
In Elgin, she's a member of the Gifford Park Association and helps research, write and edit the booklet that accompanies the group's popular annual housewalk tours.
She's also well known at the Elgin Public House, which holds trivia competitions on Wednesday nights.
With her help, Carrel's team of eight has won first place in at least three of the restaurant's trivia tournaments. The trivia nights actually helped her on “Jeopardy!”
“It gets you primed for answering questions quickly,” she said.
The Arlington Heights native has loved “Jeopardy!” for as long as she can remember and has always been able to remember names and dates. It doesn't hurt that she majored in English at the University of Illinois at Chicago, loves words, wordplay and geography — interests that appear to make her the perfect candidate for the show.
“I know a lot of the questions that they supply the answers for,” Carrel said of watching the show. “It's fun and fast paced.”
But before she could try her luck on the show, she had to take an online test, which is the first step to getting cast.
Carrel took it in January 2011 and based on her results was invited to audition in Seattle last August, where she answered another 50 questions and practiced playing the game.
By November, the folks from “Jeopardy!” had invited Carrel to play — her show was taped on Dec. 13.
To prepare for her appearance, she brushed up on the amendments to the Constitution, read up on sports statistics and the space program — three areas that sometimes appear on the show that she considers to be her weaknesses. She also asked a friend to tape the tournament of champions so she could familiarize herself with the game.
Carrel isn't allowed to discuss her questions, but she can reveal some behind-the-scenes action.
During the commercial breaks, contestants test their buzzers and get their face powder reapplied, while host Alex Trebek takes questions from the audience.
Unfortunately, players' interaction with Trebek is limited to chatting for a few seconds about the game.
“He comes out onstage after the contestants are all at the podium and they say they do that to avoid the appearance of game fixing,” Carrel said.
Carrel's show airs at 3:30 p.m. Monday on ABC-7.