Waiting for my Curtain Call…
I’ve only applied to be on three television shows in my life — Jeopardy, Survivor, and The Amazing Race — so it’s no wonder that with Survivor IV and Amazing Race II aired and the winners paid, I find that my Wednesdays and Thursdays now have a void that needs to be filled.
All three of the shows to which I’ve applied are very different, yet they share the commonalities that you have to be smart, manipulative and personable to succeed.
To get on Jeopardy, you definitely have to be smart. I applied in San Francisco in 1999, and had to take a fill-in-the-blank test that consisted mainly of what were then $1000 questions (essentially the hardest questions of each of the categories). Those who make the grade (supposedly, I missed the mark by one point) then play a mock game in front of video cameras. That’s the time manipulation and/or personality come into play. You do what you can to maneuver to the top of the list to be called back.
It’s much more difficult to participate in the application process in Amazing Race or Survivor. You have one shot to get to the in-person interviews, and the problem is that you don’t know what that shot is; either they make some sort of connection with you by viewing all or some of the three-minute production-quality video that you have to send in and THEN they use the written portions of the application as the tie-breaker, or they concentrate on the written applications and view the videos for those that sound interesting. Who knows?
The problem with those applications is that there are too many unknowns in the process. Do they watch the video first, or read the application? Do they watch the whole video, or only the first few seconds unless it appears to be interesting? What are they looking for, television presence, silliness, or honest appeal? It’s almost impossible to guess ahead of time what they want and anticipate the best face to lead with. Ironically, there are probably more applications for Jeopardy per year than for either of the reality shows. Not only do you have to be smart, manipulative and personable in the application process, but the games themselves are a never-ending drain on those internal resources. At least a week’s worth of Jeopardy is filmed in only one day!
If I was given a choice as to which of the shows I could appear on, I’d choose Amazing Race, despite my long-time (and slightly waning) enthusiasm for Survivor. It’s just as challenging, less mentally taxing, in a variety of environmental conditions (rather than the potential of being stuck in a single terrible clime), and would take me further in fulfilling some of my life-long travel goals. Plus, it would be fun to experience it with a good friend, something we would both treasure our entire lives, assuming we don’t kill each other first. “You’re not a miner, you’re an idiot!!”
There is a fourth option, I suppose. I could wait for whatever the next reality show is to fill the current mid-season void. Who knows? Maybe the next success is just around the corner, looking for me to be a part of it…
I’d pick Amazing Race if I had to choose just one. For all of the reasons you list but more importantly because whether you win or not is more firmly under your control. Survivor, for example, a lot of your fate is in the hands of other people.
How the hëll does one find the rules and an application for the next amazing race? The net has given me the usual run around - where is the end? THX.
Please go on Big Brother, it’s a great head game.