On set: Jeopardy host Alex Trebek, left, with Faculty of Law Professor Anthony Niblett.
UPDATED Jan. 6, 2014: Prof. Niblett won $19,601 on Christmas Day and finished in second place on Boxing Day, with a $2,000 win. Questions that stumped him? "Too many to list, I'm afraid," he said.
By Lucianna Ciccocioppo
“I’ll take really cool academics for $500.”
Answer: “He’s a law professor, was born in England, and will be on Jeopardy this Christmas Day.”
Question: “Who is Anthony Niblett?”
That’s correct! Our very own Prof. Niblett will appear on “America’s Favorite Quiz Show” Dec. 25, 2013 and wow the world with his not-so-trivial knowledge.
The tall, rakish Niblett, a much-loved assistant professor in the Faculty of Law, has a penchant for lively, interactive, YouTube-enhanced lectures, and a regular gig hosting trivia nights at local Toronto pubs. That’s in addition to the improv classes he took “as a way of meeting people when I first arrived.”
“I used to watch Australia’s version of Jeopardy when it ran for about six months. But then it was cancelled. I guess there weren’t enough people like me watching it.”
The Anglo-Australian Niblett stands out, in a good way, and it’s no surprise he shone among the 2,500 possible contenders. “It was a lot of fun, especially meeting Alex Trebek,” Niblett says. “It was all very surreal but very fun.”
The quiz show first hooked him back in 1993. “I used to watch Australia’s version of Jeopardy when it ran for about six months. But then it was cancelled. I guess there weren’t enough people like me watching it.”
His interest in Jeopardy persevered, and when he moved to Canada, after teaching at Harvard and University of Chicago, he found out about the show’s casting call last March.
An online 50-question test screens the first round of participants. “I then received an email requesting another test and an in-person interview.” So he drove to Detroit in June, at his expense, faced a three-person panel, wrote the second test, and participated in a mock show. “They want to ensure you don’t ‘freeze’ on camera.”
The call from Los Angeles came in September. “I was unbelievably shocked.”
The show was taped in L. A. in October, in front of a live audience of mostly school children and contestants’ family members. Except his. “Mine didn’t make the trip from Australia,” laughs Niblett.
The studio is large, the topics' screen is small. Everyone in production is kept busy, churning out five shows a day.
“It takes 22 minutes to tape one episode, and it went so quickly. It's a little anti-climatic, but overall it was fantastic experience and a really exciting day.”
Due to contractual agreements, he can’t tell us how the show went, if he won, and what any of the topics were.
And we can’t have a contracts professor breaking any contracts now, can we?
Watch Anthony Niblett on Jeopardy at 7:30 pm Dec. 25, 2013 on CHCH TV’s Channel 11 in Toronto or on the ABC network affiliate in your area.
