I’ll take ‘beach reading’ for $1000, Ken

So I had a pretty weird January.

While planning for a week on vacation, two things happened that totally derailed me. The Wall Street Journal asked me to review David Pogue’s book “Apple: The First 50 Years,” which pretty much wrapped up most of my beach reading. The book is long!

And then there was the text message I got from John, who claimed to be a contestant producer for Jeopardy!

In early 2023, after many years of curiosity, I took the venerable quiz show’s “anytime test” on the Web. I had no idea how I did, though I was sure I got a few wrong. Anyway, it was fun! My in-laws have been watching Jeopardy! religiously forever, and they turned me into a regular viewer. Despite being a bit game-show obsessive as a kid, being on a game show was never part of my plan. I liked the challenge of the anytime test, though.

A few weeks later, I got an email from Jeopardy! asking me to take the test again—this time with a group on Zoom, cameras on, presumably so they could watch us take the test and make sure we had passed it without any assistance.

And a few weeks after that, in June 2023, I got the call: Appear on Zoom to play a sample game with a bunch of other potential players. At this point, they told us that we had all qualified for Jeopardy!—the Zoom call was really so the producers of the show could see us and hear us playing the game.

It makes sense. Jeopardy! is a TV show, and that Zoom call was essentially a casting session. Maybe 100,000 people apply to be on Jeopardy! and only a tiny group qualify, but there are a minuscule number of slots on the actual show. Jeopardy! producers really do want the show to reflect a cross-section of North America, and the casting process helps ensure they get the right contestant mix, week in, week out.

Two and a half years passed. After a year, I assumed I was not going to make it on Jeopardy! and stopped watching every episode with a clicky pen standing in for the Jeopardy! buzzer. Ah well, it was a fun idea while it lasted.

And that’s when John texted me. His phone number was from the correct area code, and when I did a web search, I found a podcast transcript that also described getting a text from John. (I had expected a phone call, which led to an exciting moment not too long after my audition—I got a 90-second voicemail from the 310 area code. It was, of all things, a fax machine.)

I checked in with Dan Moren, who played Jeopardy last year, and he confirmed that he knew John. So I texted him back, and then we talked on the phone, which is when I got “the call”—I was going to be on Jeopardy! in one month. (And yes, future contestants searching to find out if John Barra is a real person who might text you about being on Jeopardy!—he is.)

My vacation reading suddenly consisted entirely of David Pogue’s book and trivia-themed children’s books. (That’s a pro tip from Ken Jennings himself: Children’s books are very high-density on facts. Good for trivia studying.)

Those fish tacos are calling, Ken.

So here we are: Six Colors now has three Jeopardy! players as contributors. I can’t say anything about what went down in early February in Culver City (though I can reveal that Ken had fish tacos after), but I can echo Dan’s comments about the experience: The other contestants were wonderful, and the Jeopardy! staff was supportive above and beyond the call of duty. It was a surreal experience to essentially step inside the television and play the game, for real, in front of a live studio audience. I am adding it to the memory bank of amazing experiences I never really expected I would have in my life.

So please tune into Jeopardy!—either on your local station, or the next day on Hulu or Peacock! (That’s a new development.) My good friends from the Jeopardy! contestant green room will be competing the entire week of March 16, and you can tune in to see me on Thursday, March 19.

When all is said and done, I’ll break down what happened on The Incomparable and Upgrade and, who are we kidding, the Six Colors podcast, too.

I don’t know what else 2026 has in store for me, but it’s already been a very interesting few months.