Centreville Resident Competes on Jeopardy!

Since she was a teenager, Nicole Willson has regularly watched Jeopardy! with her mother. On Friday, she gets to do something most fans only dream about: make her debut on national television as a contestant on the show. 

"I’ve been so nervous all week," said Willson, 42, a web designer and Centreville resident for the last 10 years. 

She knows the final result, because the show was taped on October 12th. Still, it's almost like reliving the process while she waits to watch the game on national television, she said.  

Willson said that she has never wanted to try out for any other game show. This was the "third or fourth time" she has tried to make it on Jeopardy!, she said. Twice, she made it past the initial online test and on to an audition, once in 2008 and again in 2009. This year was the first time she made it all the way onto the show. 

Her family was "over the moon," when they found out the good news, she said. 

"My mom has been watching Jeopardy! with me this whole time so I don’t think she could have been more excited if she went on herself,” said Willson. 

She prepared for the show by reading trivia books, and practiced in front of the TV with a toy buzzer her husband had put together. As she watched the show, she would hit the buzzer to try to beat the other contestants to the answer. 

In October, she flew out to Culver City, California, to the Jeopardy! studios. She arrived early in the morning, told her personal story to Alex Trebek, and had most of the day to practice with the buzzers. The studio taped several groups first, then she played near the end of the day. 

Willson says no one should feel shy about auditioning for Jeopardy! “I would encourage people, that if it’s something they want to do, they should at least try the online test," she said. "It’s a lot of fun.”