Jared James Thompson is an actuarial analyst for Westfield Group in Westfield Center, Ohio, whose work involves the pricing of commercial property.  He has passed Exams 1-4, but he’s also passed some other important tests, which have made him a two-time Jeopardy! winner!  We caught up with Jared to hear a little bit about what it takes to be on the show.

When did the show run? 
My two wins aired Dec. 28 and 29.  Then I returned on Mon., Jan. 1, when I was defeated.

How did the audition process for Jeopardy! work?
The first step in the Jeopardy! audition process is a difficult test containing 50 questions in 50 different categories.  Each question is about as difficult as the average Jeopardy! clue, and (unofficially) you need about 35 correct in order to pass.  In the past, this test was only available at the studios in Los Angeles or at a traveling contestant search.  But in late March 2006, for the first time ever, this test was offered online.  [On a side note, the online test was very cheat-proof.  It had to be taken at a specific time, there are only 15 seconds to read and type an answer to each question, and you can't go back and repeat a question.]  I was confident that I passed, but I didn't get my hopes up since I figured that many others had as well.

A couple of weeks later, I received an e-mail that congratulated me on passing the test and invited me for an audition in my preferred city of Indianapolis.  It turns out that I may have been lucky to get an audition even though I passed; there may have been some sort of random selection process involved at this point in the process.
 
So on May 1, I got up early and drove to Indy.  Once there, the other 20 people in my audition group and I were greeted with another 50-question test.  Although we had already passed the online test, we were told that this was "an additional screening tool" in the audition process.  I felt okay about the second test, but not as good as the first.  This was followed by a general informational session involving rules of the game and what to expect in the audition process.
 
Then, we were called up in groups of three to play a mock version of the game, complete with buzzers and an electronic game board.  As I had read before, the producers aren't necessarily looking for people who give correct answers at this point (that's what the tests were for).  They want people who know how the game works, play quickly, and speak loudly and clearly--people who won't cause production problems.  Finally (and probably most importantly), each of us was asked to give a one-minute "spiel" about ourselves including why we want to be on Jeopardy! and what we would do with the money.  Thankfully, I knew about this ahead of time, so I was mentally prepared and showed a lot of charisma.  Some in the group were completely caught off guard.  Many in the group started off: "ummmm, so my name is ___, and I have two kids, and I'm a lawyer, and um, er..."  I'm not holding my breath to see any of those people on the show any time soon.
 
And that was it.  We were told that we'd be in the active 'contestant pool' for this season, and we were told, "Don't call us; we'll call you."  After nearly five months of waiting, I finally got a call from them in late September inviting me to be on the show. 
 
How would you describe your emotions before the show started?
As my appearance on the show drew near, I didn't feel particularly nervous.  I'm used to playing quiz games--I was on Scholastic Bowl in high school (Eureka HS in Eureka, Ill.) and on College Bowl in college (Valparaiso University), and I've watched the show for most of my life, so Jeopardy! wasn't anything new to me.  Quite honestly, the whole experience didn't sink in until I saw myself on TV two months later.  Until then, it seemed like some glorified party game that I played in L.A.

I also realized that regardless of the outcome of my appearance(s), my life would be pretty much the same.  I'd have the same job, same family, same friends, etc., and any money I might win would just be gravy.  That thought had a calming effect on me.
 
It also helped that I didn't play until the fourth show of the day [they tape five shows in one day], and so I got to watch three other games from the audience.  Once it was my turn, I had already acclimated to the surroundings and felt comfortable being there.  And by then, I was running mostly on adrenaline anyway. 

What was the most difficult category?
Two come to mind:  Female Leaders (show 2) and Record Labels (show 3).  I don't recall knowing any of these.  Mostly because of my age, "old" pop music is a real weak spot for me. 

What was the easiest category for you?
It was a category called "Uniting the Cities & States" from show 2.  The clue described one city and one state, and I had to provide both parts of the clue and blend the two clues into one.  Examples in this category were "Omahawaii" and "Baltimoregon."  For some reason, these came easily to me, and I swept the category.

How did your actuarial training help you in the show?
Unfortunately, none of my games had categories on Bayesian Credibility, Loss Reserving, or Bond Pricing.  As you would expect, direct actuarial knowledge didn't come in handy on the show, but many of Jeopardy!'s clues are obscure and require some decoding/problem solving skills.  Actuarial training definitely helped in that regard.

How much did you win?
    Show 1:  $20,500 for the win
    Show 2:  $36,001 for the win
    Show 3:  $2,000 (the default prize for second place)
    Total:  $58,501

What have you done with your winnings?
Actually, I still haven't received my winnings yet (there's a several-month delay for legal compliance reasons).  But I do intend to use them toward my first home purchase later this year.
 
Anything else you would like to share about your experience?
One general thing that I quickly learned about the show is that a good, broad knowledge base will only take you so far.  Mastering the tricky signaling devices, in many cases, is more important since multiple contestants know the correct response to the majority of the clues.  Anyone who makes it on the show is going to be very bright and very fast.  My competitors and I had a mutual respect for each other and realized that on any given day, any of us had enough knowledge to win.  Whether we won just came down to other factors. 

And perhaps one of the biggest of those other factors is luck:  luck determines what contestants you play against, what categories come up in the game, whether you get Daily Doubles, and what the supremely important Final Jeopardy! clue is.  Luck is why it's so rare for a contestant to last longer than a few shows.  When you take all of it into account, it makes Ken Jennings's 74 wins that much more impressive.
 
The level of the show's professionalism really impressed me as well.  After 23 years on the air, they have the production down to a science.  In order to film 10 shows over a two-day period, they have to be efficient, and they're just that.