| Guenmai |
Dec 29th, 2012 06:06 PM |
Congrats for being on Jeopardy! I'll set the DVD player. I used to really be into the game show scene. Back in the early 80s, I was on both Match Game and the Pyramid. I also went out for Wheel of Fortune and the dating Game (not a real game show). I was called back for the Dating Game, but turned it down because back then one could only do 3 game shows in one's lifetime. So, I decided to try to find a third one where I could possibly again win a lot of money.
I was terrible in the test for Wheel of Fortune though. I remember it well. The auditions were held in the old, white building on Yucca across from the Capital Record building. We were stuffed in a room and it was pretty dark and dreary. I just couldn't concentrate.
The audition that went great was for the Pyramid which was held in a building that used to be where the Kodak Center is, but has been renamed. It's where the Academy Awards are held. It's right on Hollywood Blvd, near Highland. I remember in that audition that we were 40 people and were all given a knowledge test and were only 4 who passed it. Then 4 dwindled to 2. Then the 2 of us left had to go in and actually play the game in front of some of the producers. Our names were then put on a list. I was called back pretty quickly to be on the show.
I remember the audition for the Match Game being in Hollywood, in the same building where CNN is now, I think it was. That audition was also fun. We all had to get up, in front of everyone, and tell something about ourselves and say something funny. I was called back, in a couple of months or so , to actually be on the show, but it was about a week after I had returned from vacationing in Guadalajara and returned home with a bad case of Montezuma's Revenge. I remember, while driving on the way to the studio, praying that the stomach would hold up. LOL! But, I made it through all of the tapings and when my winner's check arrived, I was laughing all the way to the bank. When I went into my bank to deposit the check, the teller's eyes got huge and she said, "Where the heck did you get all of this money?"
It was weird being recognized on the street and in stores around L.A. and people coming up to me and chatting. But, those were the fun 80s here in L.A.
A friend was also on two game shows, back then, and won enough money to buy his gorgeous house in the hills of Eagle Rock. Those were the good old days. Smiles.
Happy Travels!
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