VHHS grad to appear on Jeopardy

Carter Spires started watching Jeopardy in middle school, but he did not take the steps to be a contestant until last year.

In spring 2015, Spires took the online test to become a Jeopardy contestant and after an in-person audition and test, he will be on the April 12 episode of Jeopardy. Spires, a 2009 graduate of Vestavia Hills High School and law student at University of Alabama, said his passion for trivia came around during middle school and high school Quiz Bowl teams.

After learning he would be a contestant, Spires said he did not try to learn any more information. Instead, he focused on his technique. All contestants receive a click pen that mimics the actual buzzer, Spires said, so he would work on “buzzing in” while watching episodes of Jeopardy.

“Since you can’t buzz in while Alex [Trebek] is still asking the question, you have to really practice your timing,” Spires aid.

His past experience with buzzers through quiz bowl, as well as his time as a theater student, helped when he was on the show.

“Just being used to being up in front of an audience and being in front of the lights [helped],” Spires said. “Also being in theater, I wasn’t as weirded out as some guys might be when they had to put makeup on for the camera.”

During the day of filming, there is a large pool of contestants that is pulled from, and there is no set list of who will go next. As one episode ended, Spires said crew members would call out a few more names and get them ready for the next episode.

“It was really fun,” Spires said. “It was a really great experience. A lot of contestants say it goes by really fast because they film it in about 30 minutes, so the whole thing is over before you realize it.”

The episode will air Tuesday, April 12 at 3:30 p.m. on CBS 42. Spires said although crew members worked to put contestants at ease, he is sure there are a few moments he was too nervous to remember.

“I’ll be watching the episode and there will probably be questions I answered that I don’t really even remember,” he said.