Jerome Socolof
The small town of Ilion, N.Y. isn't known for much besides Herkimer Cheese and Fire Arms, but an Ohio State graduate student and Ilion native can now make the town a little more famous. He's in the one percent of people who make it on to the hit game show "Jeopardy."
Jerome Socolof, a 23-year-old graduate student in the arts policy and administration program, says "Jeopardy" was always on in his house growing up.
"I only really watched the TV programs my parents watched," Socolof said. "My dad payed more attention to it than my mom did, but they both were always answering the questions."
To try out, Socolof first had to complete an online contestant exam with 50 questions.
"They never even tell you if you passed," Socolof said. "You just receive an e-mail telling you if you made it to the in-person tryouts."
The tryout was held in June in Cleveland and consisted of a mock version of the game show. After the tryout, officials told Socolof he would hear from them within 18 months.
Socolof was sitting in the Teacher's Assistant office in Hopkins Hall in early December when he got the phone call.
"I have a nasty habit of screening phone calls," Socolof said. "I let it go to voicemail, and once I listened to the voicemail I couldn't believe it."
The voicemail was someone from the show calling Socolof to let him know he had made it onto a regular episode of the show. Socolof said the first thing he did was call his mother.
"Well I had actually won the ticket lottery for the Obama inauguration," Socolof said. "I called my mother and told her I wouldn't be able to attend the inauguration because I had been invited to be on 'Jeopardy.' "
Socolof said both his mother and father screamed at the top of their lungs with excitement.
"It was a nice addition to finals week," Socolof said. "Only 1 percent of the people that take the test make the show, so I was definitely down with that."
Socolof headed to Los Angeles on Jan. 19 to tape the episode.
"I stayed in a nice hotel, but the show doesn't pay for anything," Socolof said. "You are guaranteed a thousand dollars, though, just for doing the show, so that was a plus."
Socolof said that once he got to the set of the show, he sat through an hour-and-a-half run-down of rules and regulations. Contestants had their make-up and hair done, and then put their names on notecards that were drawn at random to determine the order.
"Yeah, It's really high-tech," Socolof joked.
Socolof said he wasn't nervous until his card was picked first.
"I was the first game of the day out of five games, so I was very nervous," Socolof said. "The game just zips along, though, it never really sets in."
Although Socolof is not yet allowed to say how he did on the show, he said his experience was great.
"You would think the contestants would be cut-throat and blood-thirsty because this is their life dream," Socolof said. "But they were actually all very nice."
Socolof said there wasn't much interaction with the show's host, Alex Trebek, but said he was very congenial.
Socolof's friends describe him as a humble and timid guy, but say he has always been extremely smart.
"He's freakishly intelligent," said fraternity brother Corey Riley, a music education major.
Socolof's episode of "Jeopardy" airs at 7:30 p.m. Monday, and there will be a fundraiser watch party at Buffalo Wild Wings on North High Street in honor of Socolof.
"Ten percent of each receipt will be donated to the school of music ensemble travel fund," said fraternity brother Ben Meisel, a music education major. "It's not every day a student from Ohio State gets on Jeopardy, so come out and show your support."
Kelli Gardner can be reached at gardner.789@osu.edu.
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