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CAMPUS

The Norwich Guidon
April 29, 2004

NU professor competes in Jeopardy TV game show

By Kevin Schieve
Norwich Guidon Staff Writer

Norwich Professor Robert Poodiack (right) poses with Alex Trebek, host of the nationally-syndicated game show Jeopardy. Poodiack, who was one of 1,000 Vermont contenders who tried out for the program during the summer of 2003, appeared as a contestant in January 2004 and won second place.

Last July, about 1,000 people lined up in Burlington, Vt. hoping for a chance to appear on the television show Jeopardy.

After a second round of tryouts, Norwich math professor Robert Poodiack was given the opportunity to live a small life dream of competing on the widely-syndicated show.

"It was a great experience," Poodiack said. "It's one of those games where you play along at home, but as anyone would guess, it's a lot harder than it looks when you're there under the bright lights trying to press that buzzer. But it was an exciting game, and was a lot of fun."

After the first round of tryouts, the remaining contestants had a mock game with other hopefuls, "Just to see how you're going to fare on TV, being under pressure," Poodiack said.

At the end of October 2003, Poodiack received a call informing him he was invited to appear on a taping of the real show on Nov. 21. Then it was off to Los Angeles for the taping, where Poodiack had to pay his own way, including flight, hotel, and meal expenses.

"You pay your own way unless you are at the end of a taping period and you're the champion," Poodiack said. "After a month layover, you have to go back; then they pay for your flights."

A little over a month later, on Jan. 28, 2004 the show aired.

"Certainly the stage looks smaller in person, but the one thing you don't notice on TV is, around the board where all the questions come up, there is a line of Christmas lights, and you can't buzz in until they light up those lights," Poodiack said. "I had a terrible time, especially in the first round, just trying to get used to it."

But he earned enough game money to be tied with another contestant going into Final Jeopardy.

Unfortunately, his high wager in the final round was his ultimate demise, as he bet more money than his co-leader.

"I and the current champion were tied going into Final Jeopardy, but I happened to bet more," Poodiack explained. "It was a category called 'Latin Lingo,' and I thought to myself, 'I don't know about this,'" Poodiack chuckled, "and I ended up losing."

Though he finished in second place, Poodiack still earned enough money to pay for his trip to California, and in his experience he earned recognition from his colleagues and Norwich students.

"The other professors were really supportive, and of course a lot of people abused me for missing that final question," Poodiack said, laughing.

Several Norwich students also took in the evening program, and all were pleased with seeing a faculty member do so well on the brain-challenging game show.

"It's nice having a professor at Norwich getting on such a well-known intellectual show like that. It says a lot about the school and about the smarts of some of the professors we have working here," said Brian Mullally, 22, a sophomore communications major from Maynard, Mass.

"I thought it was pretty cool seeing [Poodiack] on Jeopardy. Earlier, the day it aired, I sat in his class, and later on that evening, I was cheering for him to win a game show," said Garrett Winder, 22, a sophomore engineering major from Ajax, Ontario.

The Norwich Guidon is a twice-monthly student newspaper distributed at Norwich University. It provides laboratory experience for students in the Communications program. Claims asserted by letter writers, editorials and other articles do not represent the positions of Norwich University. The Norwich Guidon welcomes signed letters to the editor. They should be no longer than 300 words. Unsigned letters will not be printed, but names may be withheld upon worthy request. All letters are subject to editing for length and good taste. Mailing address: The Norwich Guidon, Communications Center, Norwich University, Northfield, VT 056632. www.norwich.edu/guidon. If you have any questions or comments about the paper, please contact Professor Ken Bush at kbush@norwich.edu.