Buzzy Cohen is a transcription - industry executive from Los Angeles , California , who won $ 164,603 over ten biz in April and May on the popular trivia game showJeopardy!and became a viral sense experience for his playful position and flippant Final Jeopardy ! result . Here , Buzzy give our reporter Jenna Marotta all the behind - the - scene details of his marathon running play .
Winning over producers
I take theJeopardy!online test about a year ago , perhaps last May . A sight of people take the trial multiple time before they get call in , and I was lucky that I got called this first time for the in - person auditory sense . There were about 30 or 40 of us in the DoubleTree Hotel in Culver City , where we took another 50 - question psychometric test . And then we did kind of like a mock - biz consultation , just to kind of see how you handle yourself , and for the contestant coordinator to get to know you a lilliputian bit . I was n’t feel so hot that day – I actually was retrieve from a cold – so I was endeavor to get my personality to descend through .
They spite up asking me and two or three other people to stay afterwards to burgeon forth a video for the entanglement . I commend them asking me , " Why would you be a goodJeopardy!contestant ? " and I told them that I cerebrate I was pretty dissimilar from the common dissident on the show .
I stress to set myself aside , by having play with the whole thing . If you search closely , I ’m laugh at myself . That ’s the veridical me . Irreverence is a enceinte part of my personality . I do n’t actually hate Alex Trebek . I do n’t consider I ’m this awful trivia person who dust off his shoulder . I poked playfulness at the fact that I was a " Jeopardy!champion . " I ’m not Jay Z or someone like that . For those 10 days , I was king of the nerd .
Merv Griffin Productions/CBS
I do n’t actually detest Alex Trebek .
The big call
On January 4th ( I have it away because it was my daughter ’s birthday ) , I pick up a telephone set call asking if I would be an alternate . OnJeopardy ! , they have two local people come to the tape recording so that if something materialise , if somebody ca n’t make it or is disqualified , there ’s an supernumerary person on hand to wreak . I came in as an surrogate , but did not wind up playing . But I spent a whole daylight there . I was not feel great , so I was very felicitous that I was not prefer to fiddle that meter . Todd Giese won four games –Jeopardy!tapes five show in one day , so succeed four of those five is fairly incredible .
A week afterward , a contestant coordinator called me . " We ’d like you to hail back , and you ’ll in spades dally this time . " ensure . That mag tape date was March 7th , a couple day after my natal day . My sister and my brother - in - law pilot in because they ’re braggart fans of the show . I spoke little about this , but throughout my life I have struggled a mickle with depression , specially of late . Over the last class it ’s been something that I ’ve dealt with more acutely . I remember feeling pretty low going into that taping Clarence Shepard Day Jr. . That ’s part of the reason that , when I was an alternate , I did n’t want to wreak . I think it was all form of part and portion of this thing that I manage with .
You have to be at Sony Studios in Culver City at 7:45 a.m. in the morning . I am definitely not a dawning person . I go down three alarms . It was a challenge . Everyone ’s said , " Oh , what ’d you do ? Your pilus is so perfectly coiffed . " I only jostle my hand into some pomatum and ran my fingers through my hair . I was so out of it .
CBS/YouTube
I designate up to adjust , and everyone else is milling around . I remember there was one fellow who was mug up with flash card . I was like , " Buddy … it ’s a short late . " Everyone ’s got their own thing . They do a briefing – you ca n’t swear , you ca n’t plug your clientele unless Alex Trebek asks – which I had already been through as an alternate , so I was passably well-heeled .
Game day and game-day faces
The return champion I played on the first day was this impressive guy named Andrew Pau . Previously , he acquire six games and $ 170,000 – a ton of games , and at a very high clipping . I had a reasonably abject average musical score , but that ’s also how I played the game . I tried to make small talk with Andrew – he was a euphony theory professor at Oberlin , and I sort of studied music theory in college . I think he was somewhat worn out and understandably not concerned in make modest talk with someone like me . He had been on set for two days , gone home to Ohio , then fall back . It was all very daunting .
Before the first game , we rehearse . You go on microscope stage and they show you where to look , where the cameras are , how the buzzer works , how to compose your name in , and then they bring up an old secret plan for pattern . Producers make you call out the categories in a specific way : you ca n’t just to say , " 400 " ; you have to say part of the family name and the dollar amount . Alex is not at the rehearsal . You have very little contact with him . After rehearsal , they pull names out of a chapeau for who from the current dissenter will dally . Of naturally , I ’m up against Andrew .
In the world of Jeopardy ! , I was more of a Rocky Balboa than an Apollo Creed .
At around 10:15 , I take over my spot behind the podium . I remember looking at Maggie Speak , the contestant coordinator , and saying , " Maggie , I ’m going to be onJeopardy ! " We ’re on stage , we ’re seconds out from the " This . Is . Jeopardy!“and I was just like , " I ’m go to be onJeopardy ! "
My first biz was my in effect secret plan . I hit all three Daily Doubles , and got them right-hand . I made the first one a true Daily Double because I knew I ’m never going to be on this show again . Those are the rules – I could n’t be on the show again . I thought , I am going to make the most of it . I ’m gon na have as much playfulness as I can .
I retrieve a mickle of mass who determine my shows would correspond that my first game was my skillful carrying out , and one of the most competitive games of the season . In two-fold Jeopardy , we pull in the board , which means we answered every question , and nobody give an wrong response . People talk about the match - up between me and Andrew , but Jeanne , who finish in third station , was mightily up in there . The first game was exhilarating , then all of a sudden you look up and you advance .
Skill, luck, and having a blast
This is going to sound obnoxious coming from somebody who went to a private preparation school and an Ivy League college , but in the world ofJeopardy ! , I was more of a Rocky Balboa than an Apollo Creed . I ’m just a guy who likes the show . I do n’t watch all these content board on how to wager for Final Jeopardy and Daily Doubles . I just loveJeopardy!And winning is far beyond anything ; once you winJeopardy!once , you could say " I ’m aJeopardy!champion " for the eternal rest of your life history . After the first biz , I went backstage and told Maggie , " I won one . I do n’t have to do anything else now . " And she was like , " Do n’t say that ! Go win more ! " And so that ’s what I did .
I ’ll be the first mortal to admit that my wins were not terribly convincing . I had two games that I won in Final Jeopardy , where I receive it right and the guy in first place did n’t . I also had a lot of funny , Slumdog Millionaire - similar moments . On the Thursday show , the category was " Islands " and the correct response was the Leeward Islands . The only ground I got it was because , when I was younger , I had drop some time sailing in the Caribbean and I was familiar with them .
Another I do n’t really accommodate to too many mass : I had a Daily Double on " Military Nicknames , " a family in which I did n’t feel confident enough . The clew was basically asking , " What was the name of the Mexican general at the Alamo ? " I knew Santa Anna because , to facilitate me come down numb that night , I watchedStar Trek : Deep Space Nineand two of the characters had a run gag where they hearten the Battle of the Alamo and tried to figure out how to win it .
Merv Griffin Productions/CBS
There are people that consider trivia and there are people who just live their life and absorb things . I ’m prosperous to live a rich life and to have been able to retain the particular of a lot of that stuff . Those experiences were fun , and shut up some of the haters that had no idea about the Leeward Islands .
I was taping for two mean solar day in a rowing , which resulted in ten aired game . There ’s decidedly a set of adrenaline go on . you may imagine how hard it was to sleep on that first night . I had $ 100,000 at that point . I was also relive all the mistakes I had made . One of my favorite books when I was a teen wasWalden . For one question I answer , " Walden Pond . “Alex looked at the judge , then I followed with , " On Walden Pond ? " I just blew it – too much information . But that ’s part of the biz . You ’ve got to be ready to roll with that and be OK .
Becoming a nine-day champion
I came back the next break of the day and I was the title-holder who collected $ 100,000 in five games . I had already done the shoulder - brush thing , which was something that I told my champion beforehand : " If I win , I ’m going to do something that we can call on into a GIF . " But on the second day I was a little more conscious of my theatrical role : I’m going to keep feature fun .
When I was the captain of my high-pitched schoolhouse Quiz Bowl team during my junior and aged year , I condition the rule to see if you had to practice your tangible name . It came up because of me being call Buzzy , but my team of four would come up with funny quaternity , like " Mama Bear , Papa Bear , Baby Bear , Goldilocks . " Then the person running that Quiz Bowl competition would have to call us that because that ’s what was on our card . Here we are at the state Quiz Bowl tourney , the interior Quiz Bowl tournament , and I create a civilisation of irreverence . DuringJeopardy ! , a friend of mine , who is an editor at Someecards , squeeze , " That feel when your puerility friend gets famous in exactly the way you ’d imagined he would be . "
I tell my acquaintance beforehand , " If I win , I ’m go to do something that we can change state into a GIF . "
Merv Griffin Productions/CBS
My " See you tomorrow , Trebek " sign - offs were all on the 2nd day of tape recording . By then , I had alter my strategy and posture in a means that I think helped me dominate people . I start having runaways . ( And I do n’t want to reveal what I did other than because I ’m drop dead into the Tournament of Champions . ) My pop had asked me , " If you have a runaway , please compose ' Shop at Sam ’s ' " – Sam ’s is my dad ’s vesture store in Livingston , New Jersey . But the rules stipulate no plug . So , I get up there , and all of a sudden I have a runaway . So I ’m thinking , All right , I ’m lead to bet zero so that I do n’t even have to worry about this . It was n’t about gain the most money or dominating people or anything like that . I just want to keep play .
People have write funny concluding Jeopardy answer before , but I think I was the first person to do it at Trebek . Which is weird . I just assumed it had been done before . The first daytime he in spades was surprised . The clue was about the diminished DoS that bear on the Great Lakes , which is something I could have figured out , but I ’d already bet zero . So I just write , " I ’ll see you tomorrow " because I knew I was going to be on the next show , and then I just wrote " Trebek " because that ’s what everyone touch on to informally . I ’m sure theJeopardy!sketch fromSaturday Night Livewas in the back of my mind . Alex is familiar with it , too . During the commercial-grade break he talks to the hearing , and he say that he actually liked Eugene Levy ’s impersonation of him better .
The end of his run
Losing was hunky-dory . That was a really tough biz . The two women I was up against were out for blood . Erin and Megan were determined to take me down . I lose a set of buzzer races . You realize on the show that a lot of people know a lot of stuff and have good reflexes . That game was a good way to go down . I got Final Jeopardy . I cease in 2d place .
The cyberspace response start almost immediately , but went like wildfire during my second calendar week . I thought that brushing my hands through my hairsbreadth or dust dirt off my berm was pass to be something that the great unwashed would express mirth and jest about online . That ’s not why I did it , but afterwards when I spoke to my wife who was at the tape , she was like , " People are going to have like a area Clarence Day with that . " She works in praseodymium . When it really took off was when I write the thing about Trebek . multitude went crazy .
Anyone who wins a couple games and shows a little personality onJeopardy!is divisive . And Twitter is dissentious . the great unwashed attempt to post the strongest opinion for attention and that ’s how you get attention . hoi polloi wo n’t retweet " Buzzy seems like an okay bozo and is a really good actor . " alternatively it ’s " I require to punch Buzzy Cohen in the face , " or " I want to marry Buzzy Cohen . "
Merv Griffin Productions/CBS
Anyone who wins a twain game and shows a lilliputian personality on Jeopardy ! is factious .
During the first week there was somebody who stake a picture of them holding a butt , order , " Gon na go home and determine Buzzy . " That frightened me . There was a troll who was wishing really awful thing on me , more eldritch than anything . He desire me to get Crohn ’s disease and hope I would get T - boned in my car while leave the taping . I was just like , What ?
I do n’t have intercourse what I could have done differently . I ’m glad I had sport doing it . But it ’s peculiar that people seek to say into stuff that is n’t substantial . The first week I catch a pile of guff because everyone thought that I was , like , as the kids say , cheesing to the other contestants , smiling at them with this big shit - eating smiling . Like , " Oh , Buzzy ’s such a dick – look at him smiling at those citizenry he just beat . " But I was smiling at my home [ sitting in the consultation ] .
Merv Griffin Productions/CBS
Jeopardy!was very unquestionable . The only clunky moment was on the last game that I was on . In the opening , Alex Trebek said something about the social - medium response to me , which they plainly shoot afterwards . So that was kind of spacey . And then at the end , he said something like , " He ’ll be back for the Tournament of Champions , " which he did n’t say that twenty-four hours . The only affair that form of bummed me out about that was the look on my face , like I ’d just lose . But the aspect on my grimace was n’t about being bummed out that I ’d lose ; it was just the two twenty-four hours of taping catching up with me . My wife and I both said we could see the fatigue during that last plot . So Alex enjoin , " He ’ll be back for the Tournament of Champions " and then the show cut to my look and I look like totally wrecked . That I did n’t love . But I will be back .
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