Photo courtesy of Jeopardy!
Jennifer Linde on the set of Jeopardy
Jennifer Linde doing some Jeopardy!-style social distancing.
There were few clues that a pandemic was raging outside the Jeopardy! set.
On the stage it was just Jennifer Linde and the two other contestants—albeit spaced a bit further apart than usual—the familiar blue screens, and Final Jeopardy! music. Everyone was laser-focused on the answer in the category Queen Elizabeth II.
Of the last 12 sitting U.S. presidents, the only one Elizabeth never met; she had her youngest child three months into his presidency.
Linde furrowed her brow and started scribbling.
•••••
Back in the early days of lockdown last spring, as others baked sourdough and dusted off puzzles, Linde, a U of M professor, rekindled her interest in Jeopardy! The game show had shut down production in March, but its screening test had moved online. Wannabe contestants could take it at their leisure.
“I thought, why not? If nothing else, it was fun to test my knowledge,” she says.
She took the test and then forgot about it, though she tuned in to the show after Alex Trebek announced he would return despite his pancreatic cancer.
Then, in September, an email popped up. Would she like to proceed to the next step in the audition process? It seemed unlikely that filming a game show in Los Angeles would actually come to fruition, and she wouldn’t consider going if she deemed it irresponsible. But the audition would be conducted via Zoom, so again, Linde figured, Why not?
She passed. The following month, after submitting a long personal questionnaire, would-be contestants went through interviews and squared off in mock games, using ballpoint pens as clickers. She passed again. In October, the show suddenly stopped production, with Trebek’s health declining.
A week after Trebek passed, Linde’s phone rang. Could she be in L.A.—in two weeks?
She had 24 hours to decide.
She and her husband weren’t going anywhere for Thanksgiving. She knew the show’s safety protocols were strict, including documentation of a PCR test within five days of her flight and another test on the studio lot the day before filming. It was clear from watching the show that no one ever got within six feet of anyone else, and there was no studio audience.
“I weighed the opportunities against the risks and decided it was something I was going to do,” she says.
On a Saturday in November, armed only with a mask, a face shield, and hand sanitizer, she boarded a direct flight to L.A., where she made a beeline for her hotel, forgoing tourism and seeing friends.
The contestants showed up on set in full hair and makeup, with their own snacks and drinks. A designated COVID-19 “captain” directed them to bags with masks, sanitizer, and tissues. When they walked anywhere, the captain kept them six feet apart. Someone touched their mask? He directed them to use their hand sanitizer. The usual greenroom didn’t have enough room for spacing, so they waited on the Wheel of Fortune set, where seats were taped off so no one could sit too close. Despite the precautions, there was a sense of camaraderie, as well as opportunities to chat during outdoor, socially distant snack breaks.
Multiple episodes of Jeopardy! tape in one day, so contestants for all the tapings arrive at once and play their episode when their name is drawn. While they waited, they watched.
“We were the audience,” Linde says. “They told us to cheer and clap. We were into it anyway.”
The show’s guest host, Ken Jennings, who is one of the highest-earning Jeopardy! champions ever, was hosting for the first time, and Linde watched as he settled in throughout the day. Finally, her own name was called.
“The game rolls, and I’m just in the moment and doing my best not to freeze on camera,” she says.
Linde jumped out to an early lead, but the returning champion pulled ahead by Double Jeopardy!
“The next thing you know, you’re done,” she says. “I joked with friends that I couldn’t wait to watch because I wanted to remember the questions.”
Two of her favorite questions? One about famous Jennifers (she clicked in early enough to answer) and one regarding the Paul Bunyan statue in Bemidji (she got beaten to the buzzer—an easy miss, she says).
•••••
When filming was done, she flew home, isolated, and got a COVID test.
“I would not have done that for anything else,” she says.
But it was worth it.
While her department at the U gathered on Zoom on January 15 to watch, Linde tuned in with her husband. Her colleague Rachel Widome got so nervous on the Zoom that she hid under her desk. Fortunately, Widome knew the pressure wouldn’t get to Linde.
“Professors are natural nerds, but Jennifer also has a disposition that is absolutely perfect for Jeopardy!” Widome says. “She’s always thinking on her feet. When she’s confronted in a meeting, she can keep her head.”
When Queen Elizabeth II was revealed as the Final Jeopardy! category, Linde decided in a flash to go all in. After all, she’d just binged The Crown and brushed up on her presidents in preparation for the show—and she was down by $5,800. Jennings read the question, and Linde started writing, paused to think, and continued.
The first contestant’s answer, JFK, was incorrect.
Linde was up next. She lifted her eyebrows as the screen blinked on to reveal her answer: “Who is Lyndon Johnson?”
“Yes, THAT is correct!” Jennings said.
Linde gave a small smile of relief as Jennings moved on to the champion, revealing another incorrect answer.
“Jennifer Linde, you are our new Jeopardy! champion! Congratulations!”
Linde smiled and clapped politely with the other two contestants.
At the Zoom party, however, Widome says she was knocked off her chair. “It was the most amazing feeling. I was blown away!”
She texted Linde. “You fucking won??!”
“I fucking won!”
Editor’s Note: Linde isn’t the only recent Minnesota winner. Just last year, Nibir Sarma became the first U of M student to win the Jeopardy! College Championship. Is there something in the water at the U?
