In the game of “Jeopardy,” how you wield your buzzer is just as important as the amount of useless knowledge you might have bouncing around your noggin.
It’s a lesson learned by Tucker Dunn, who was tapped to be a contestant during a taping of the popular trivia game show in February.
Players must wait until host Alex Trebek finishes his question.
Buzz in too early and you are locked out for a quarter second.
Ring in too late, and you risk losing out to one of your opponents.
It took a few categories for Dunn, who teaches English to language learners at the University of Arizona, to get his bearings.
“There was a category at the very beginning that I was really familiar with, but someone else got all the answers,” said Dunn, whose episode is set to air on Friday, June 9, on Channel 9, following Game 4 of the NBA Finals. “I didn’t have the timing down yet. It was in my wheelhouse, but I got smoked.”
Regardless of how he did on the show (he is contractually obligated not to tell), Dunn managed to fulfill a lifelong dream by appearing on “Jeopardy,” which has been one of his family’s favorite programs since he was a young boy.
It was family, in fact, that prompted Dunn, a Canyon del Oro High School alumnus with bachelor’s degrees in German studies and linguistics and a master’s in language/linguistics from the University of Arizona, to audition for “Jeopardy” in the first place.
“My mom will DVR all of the episodes during the week,” he said. “We’ll meet on Sundays and watch a whole bunch of them as a family and try to outsmart each other.”
The regular game nights encouraged Dunn to take the online Jeopardy audition quiz in December.
Dunn was tapped shortly thereafter to audition live in Phoenix, where he and 20 other hopefuls were subjected to a written test, an interview and a mock game.
“I didn’t do that well in the mock game,” Dunn said. “But it is also about how you interact, your expressions. They don’t want a wet blanket. They want people who enjoy the experience. I made it a point to do that.”
Eight days after the Phoenix audition, Dunn received a call from Sony Pictures Television, inviting him to be on the program.
He made the trip to Los Angeles with his wife and his mom in February.
Out of the five shows taped that day, Dunn was chosen to participate in the very last one.
His family, friends and students will get to see how he fared at a viewing party being held at No Anchovies this Friday.
“The whole thing was so much fun,” Dunn said. “The people who work on that show really enjoy what they do. That made it such a pleasure.”
