Katie Gill

by Bailee Grissom
Photo by Maggie Burks
February 6, 2008

Some would say trivia is, well, trivial. True, except when your grasp of it lands you on “Teen Jeopardy.” Katie Gill, a 15-year-old Murrah High School student, earned the attention of Jackson when she landed a coveted spot on Alex Trebek’s knowledge challenge for young contestants. Through the Jeopardy e-mail list, officials made an all-call for teenagers in the area. Gill did well enough on the online test to qualify for the Nashville finals.

Thirty other teens from the southeast headed to the music city for a mock Jeopardy trial and an interview to test their compatibility for television.

Gill waited in Mississippi for about three weeks before receiving a phone call telling her she was going to be on the show.

“My mom got a phone call that said, ‘Congratulations, your kid’s so special. She made it onto ‘Teen Jeopardy,’” Gill says.

Preparing for such an event presented no trouble as Gill’s family made sure she put every answer they hurled at her in the form of a question.

“(They) waited until after semester exams mainly to start drilling me,” Gill says. “But yeah, all throughout Christmas, (I heard) ‘Put it in the form of a question, Katie!’”

Gill has been pushing the buzzer in trivia bowls since the sixth grade, and is the captain of the Murrah Quiz Bowl team. She found the buzzer gave her a distinct advantage when she reached Los Angeles, because several of the 15 other finalists had never touched one.

Despite varying levels of competency, most of the kids got along well together, Gill says. They all shared a love of facts, Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, playing Uno and staying in the studio to watch the other rounds if one of them lost in the competition.

“I’m surprised that we didn’t drive the contestant coordinators insane! When you have 15 kids (on a bus) singing loudly to ‘I’m a Believer’ ... they were cool with it,” Gill says.

Gill says she went pretty far in the contest, at least enough to make the trip a satisfying one, but since she “signed her soul to Alex Trebek,” she remains mum on her final rank until the show airs on Wednesday, Feb. 13 on 16-WAPT at 3:30 p.m.

When asked if she had any troubles on the show, Gill smiles. “I had to go change my blouse, since apparently it made me look like a floating head. I was fine with that, but the producers didn’t like the idea of a floating head.”

If given the opportunity, she definitely wants to do the whole thing over again, but rules state no contestant can have another go until the current host retires. Gill’s final thoughts? “Retire soon, Alex.”

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