FMU professor qualifies for 'Jeopardy!'

FLORENCE — Dr. Rick Almeida not only teaches political science at Francis Marion University, but he’s also well versed in the minutia of trivia.

He’s so good in trivia that he is one of some 260 contestants from across the country who have been placed on the waiting list to appear on “Jeopardy!” He will know within 18 months whether to pay for an airplane ticket, pack his bags and head to California.

Almeida, 36, qualified for “Jeopardy!” in May. More than 900 people came to the Coastal Grand Mall on May 2, where representatives from the popular game show tested them for eligibility.
He sailed through the first round of 10 questions — all fill-in-the-blank. It covered such areas as science, history and math.

He was then one of more than 100 hopefuls invited to the Sheraton hotel in Myrtle Beach the next day, May 3, for the second round. They got some advice from the show’s team before getting down to the nitty-gritty of a comprehensive 50-question, timed-response written test.

The clues were read over an audio-video presentation and each contestant had just eight seconds to fill in the correct answer.

Almeida was one of 16 who passed. Those 16 were placed in groups of three and participated in mock-rounds of “Jeopardy!” They performed just like the TV show — with the buzzer and all.

“They said they would call us in the next 18 months,” Almeida said during an interview in his office at FMU. “They get a lot more qualifiers than they can use. As a matter of fact, the guy that won all that money (Ken Jennings) wasn’t called the first time he qualified. After the 18 months, he had to qualify again.”

Jennings won 74 straight games on “Jeopardy!” in 2004, earning more than $2.5 million.

Almeida always has been a voracious reader, especially of non-fiction. He also watches plenty of documentaries and is an avid sports fan who has a “head for trivia.”

“Sometimes you can put pieces together and make a good guess,” he said. “I don’t know, maybe part of it is just luck when you get a good run of questions. You either kind of know or you don’t. There were only a few questions I banged my head about at the tryouts. Most of them you think you know, have a good guess about or just plain don’t know.”

Almeida said he thinks people who do well on such shows as “Jeopardy!” are curious and go out of their way to seek information. He said he’s always liked to “learn about new stuff.”

And when he gets interested in a topic, he doesn’t let go. He pursues it for all he’s worth.

“I think you learn from watching the show itself,” he said. “Ultimately, only so many different types of questions can be asked. I think you kind of get a feel for places and you just kind of learn from that and other things.”

If he’s called, Almeida will have about three weeks to get ready. He has to pay for his own airfare and accommodations, but all contestants are guaranteed at least $1,000 for the trip. If they win, “Jeopardy!” picks up the tab for the extra time they stay in California.

“Jeopardy!” tapes five shows a day on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from July until April each year. It airs weekdays on WBTW News13 at 7:30 p.m.

Meanwhile, Almeida isn’t teaching this summer. He and his wife live in Conway because she works in staff development with the Horry County School District.

But he said he won’t get bored because he loves to cook and he’s planted a garden replete with tomatoes “just in time to have them disappear off the store shelves.”