What is...WMU professor on Jeopardy?
KALAMAZOO, Mich.—Professor of History Dr. Anise Strong checked one more thing off her bucket list this year: appearing as a contestant on Jeopardy!
Her journey to Jeopardy began over two and a half years ago, when Strong and her son started watching the show together. Although it was her son who first wanted the spot behind the podium, Strong realized she wasn’t half bad at playing along either.
“He urged me to audition, and I agreed to do it on the condition that if I happened to get on, he would be my coach.” Strong says. “I wanted it to be a bonding experience between the two of us.”
And so, the application process began. First, an online written test that over 100,000 people take yearly. Then there were various rounds of video interviews. After that? Radio silence.
“I was told that I was in a broader contestant pool, but then two years went by. Sometime last summer, I got to the point where I was like, ‘I guess this just isn’t happening,’” Strong says.
But in December 2024, Strong got a call inviting her to appear on the show. In a heartbeat, she accepted, and the cramming began. She watched the show daily, practiced flashcards, and read transcripts from decades-old episodes, studying everything from geography and presidents to NCAA basketball.
“What they say about Jeopardy is that the categories are a mile wide and an inch deep,” she says. “You could do a bunch of studying, but a lot of it comes down to the randomness of what categories you happen to get on your particular day.”
She even practiced wagering, as doing quick math is tricky enough without the added pressure of the cameras, a ticking clock, and your entire prize pot on the line.
Despite the intensity, Strong says Jeopardy was a fantastic experience, especially with her relatives—and of course, her son—coming out to support her at the taping. She describes the Jeopardy team as friendly and helpful and remains in close contact with the other contestants.
“I really encourage anybody who does like Jeopardy and who’s thinking about trying out to go for it,” she says. “It was a really friendly and professional experience and a great thing to cross off my bucket list.”
Strong appears on the show almost 20 years after Professor of History Sally Hadden. Hadden says people often ask her what she did with the money won from the show.
“I put my money into a new car, a Honda Civic 2004. We called it ‘Alex’ [a nod to the late, longtime host Alex Trebek] for 21 years until we sold it.”
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