East Dallas Times

Community Contribution

This Lakehill teacher appeared on a popular TV game show.

Who is Elizabeth Schmitt?

How many times have you yelled an answer to a “Jeopardy” question, swearing that if you had been on the show, you would have known the correct answer? Lakehill Preparatory School English and theater teacher Elizabeth Schmitt learned first-hand that sometimes it’s just not that easy.

During the spring of 2008, Schmitt took the “Jeopardy” test online. Several weeks later, producers invited her to a local tryout where she took another test, played a simulated game, and answered questions.
In January 2010, after waiting nearly 18 months in the contestant pool, she received a call from a “Jeopardy” staff member, inviting her to Los Angeles to be on the show during February.

Schmitt spent the next three weeks studying, brushing up on topics such as states, capitals, and U.S. presidents. With no official study guide provided, she turned to Lakehill librarian Sue Stretcher who loaned her a “Jeopardy” game. She drilled daily on the 500 questions, while fellow teachers pitched in with their own trivia questions.

“Jeopardy” films only two days a week, shooting five shows a day. Contestants are drawn at random for each game from a pool of 12 contenders for the day. The questions for all five shows are chosen before the contestants are selected and are sent by messenger to show host Alex Trebek that morning.

Schmitt wasn’t chosen for the first few games and instead watched from the audience. She was happy when some categories were selected, such as math, physics, and Latin names on the periodic table, but was disappointed when a Shakespeare and a Poe category came up before she could play. She was finally chosen for the last game of the day.

Elizabeth Schmitt continued reporting to work at Lakehill each day before her installment of the show aired, so we could only assume things didn’t work out exactly as she would have liked.

Her appearance aired May 28, and Schmitt lead after the Double Jeopardy round and headed toward final Jeopardy in the lead. Alas, she finished in second place — with a final score of $7,899 — after tripping up on the question: “A trophy named for this author is awarded to anyone who breaks the record for sailing a yacht around the world.” Cue “Jeopardy” we’re-waiting-for-an-answer music.

Regardless of the outcome, Schmitt says it was an amazing experience. But most rewarding, she says, is that she had the opportunity to do something that few can say they have done: she was on “Jeopardy.”

She did better than this guy, though.

Thanks to Gigi Ekstrom, marketing director at Lakehill, for the words and picture.