During her time at MSU, Courtney Trezise’s roommates have poked fun at her for watching and keeping pace with the contestants on “Jeopardy!,” the long-running trivia game show.
“They’re always like, ‘How do you know all these answers?’” the international relations and Spanish senior said.
On May 5, Trezise will be one of those contestants on TV, hoping to have all the answers to become the “Jeopardy! 2009 College Champion.”
Trezise is one of 15 college students nationwide who competed three weeks ago in the 2009 college championship at the University of Southern California.
Trezise’s taped episode is scheduled to air May 5, when she starts dueling 14 other trivia buffs from schools as small as Agnes Scott College in Georgia (enrollment: 850) to as large as the University of Texas (enrollment: 35,000) for a $100,000 grand prize.
Trezise said she handled the pressure well but isn’t allowed to reveal the show’s results.
“I didn’t feel too nervous about the show,” she said. “The only time I was really nervous about it was when they called, ‘30 seconds,’ and I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m going to be on TV.’”
Trezise applied for the college championship in October through an online test and was called to a November audition in
Chicago.
She took a 50-question written test, played a mock version of the game against other students and had a one-on-one interview.
In the interview, Trezise discussed her trip to Spain for study abroad and her experiences at MSU.
Five months went by, and Trezise didn’t hear from “Jeopardy!” representatives until March, when she received a call that she would be on the show.
“I hadn’t heard for months and I figured they had already picked everyone,” Trezise said. “I don’t even really know why they picked me. I didn’t do outstandingly well, so I was baffled.”
The callback wasn’t a surprise to Salena Little, a social work senior who went on the study abroad trip to Spain with Trezise last year.
“She’s one of those people that seems to know everything about everything — and I mean that in a good way,” Little said.
Trezise brought along her father Peter, an Okemos resident, and older sister Laurel, who lives in New York, to the California taping. Trezise’s “Jeopardy!” education began with Peter, who used to watch the show with his daughter.
“We have all sorts of MSU graduates in my family,” said Peter Trezise, who said 10 family members have received MSU degrees in three Trezise generations.
Trezise and her supporters expect to watch the show at Tavern on the Square, 206 S. Washington Square, in Lansing, while drinking margaritas on Cinco de Mayo.
“It was kind of a relief just to not have to worry about the show anymore,” Trezise said. “I’m excited to watch.”
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