From the Living Room to the Jeopardy! Stage: South Plainfield Resident's Journey

SOUTH PLAINFIELD, NJ - Have you ever been sitting in your favorite chair in your living room, watching Jeopardy! and thought, "Wow, I know a lot of these answers. I should try out for the show!" Well, one local woman did just that. Liz McKenna, a South Plainfield resident since 2015, was dog sitting for her parents in the fall of 2022 when she decided to take the initial test, called the Jeopardy! Anytime Test. As the name suggests, the test can be taken at any time and consists of 50 questions that can be answered online. To her delight, she advanced to the second round. This time, Liz had to take a timed test on Zoom under observation. Fortunately, she made it to the final round, a live game on Zoom. After that, she was placed into a contestant pool and informed that she could be invited to compete up to 18 months from her audition date.

Fast-forward to April 2024, at the end of the 18-month period, Liz received the exciting news that she was invited to be a contestant on Jeopardy! Liz, who is married to her husband, Ryan, and has one daughter, Claire, said she wanted to be on Jeopardy! because she used to watch the show with her parents, grandparents, and twin sister. "It was a family bonding activity.”

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Liz has been employed by the Scotch Plains Fanwood School District since 2008 and is currently their ELA Curriculum Supervisor. She refers to herself as a “Professional Reader,” which she feels helped her land her spot on Jeopardy!

Once Liz was informed that she was invited to be a contestant, she had six weeks to plan her trip to California for the taping. Liz, Ryan, and Claire planned their trip, which took place right before Memorial Day. She was told there would be two days of taping and that she could tape on either day. As luck would have it, she taped on the first day, on the second to last show, since they taped five shows in a day. During the game, Liz picked both Daily Doubles in the Double Jeopardy round; she won one and lost one.

“Ken Jennings was very nice in person,” said Liz. “He came out during rehearsals and spoke with all the contestants to help calm their nerves. He even spent time talking to Claire and answering her questions.”

Liz was surprised to meet a couple of other local contestants: a man who was originally from South Plainfield and moved to Edison, and a woman from Metuchen.

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The hardest part, other than some of the questions, was keeping the results a secret from family and friends. Claire, however, enjoyed keeping the secret because she knew something that everyone else didn’t know.

Although Liz ended up coming in third place, she said that her experience on Jeopardy! was great. "Everyone should try it. It’s way harder in real life than at home."

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